Umno rebranding – a spin is not enough

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RIDING on their euphoria over their landslide victory in the Bagan Pinang byelection, Umno delegates at the recent general assembly were delirious in their celebratory mood as the party embarked on a rebranding exercise.For once, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin abandoned the tradition of talking about Malay dominance, and referred to Malay leadership.

The most important speech came from the Umno president and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who issued the clarion call for Umno reform to make it into a relevant people-friendly party for all Malaysians. This declared intention is certainly in line with his new slogan of 1Malaysia.

He has also made a call for the spirit of voluntarism that motivated leaders and members in the early history of the party and catapulted Umno into the forefront of the ruling coalition.

He told 2,541 delegates that the party must change if it wants to retain its unbroken grip on power since Independence after the next general election.

“For us to survive, Umno has no choice but to face the reality that it must reform,” he said.

The general assembly also passed 41 amendments to their party constitution, making it easier for party members to contest for top posts in party election, as well as expanding the voting base from 2510 delegates to 146,500 party members.

These are significant structural changes aimed at making Umno more democratic and free of money politics during party elections.

One must applaud Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for his initiative to reform Umno in very bold and innovative ways, practically taking the party away from their past narrow Malay nationalist path towards a more inclusive direction. He apparently saw that, after the March 8 general election last year, Umno will fade into irrelevance unless it goes through a reengineering and rebranding exercise.

In recent times, Umno have come to be perceived by voters of all races as being arrogant, corrupt, and self-serving. They turned away from BN in massive exodus towards supporting DAP, PAS and PKR in the general election last year. In west Malaysia, Umno enjoyed the support of only about 50 per cent of the Malay voters!

Umno rebranding cannot come at a more opportune time. After the March 8 general election last year, Gerakan and MIC have been reduced to the humiliating status of mosquito parties. They have been too demoralised and too steeped in their old practices to reform themselves.

In the case of MCA, the attempt by president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Kiat to reform and rebrand the party had been defeated by old warlords within the party at the extraordinary general meeting on October 10. With a vote of no confidence passed against him, Ong is now in a difficult position of resolving a deepening crisis of leadership in the MCA. It is a task that even Hercules would find daunting.

The launch of party reform by Umno in their recent general meeting is a fine example for other component parties of BN in West Malaysia to shape up or ship out. BN cannot survive on their fixed deposit in Sarawak and Sabah forever.

With the surging strength of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition in West Malaysia, and their declaration to invade Sarawak and Sabah in a big way, Umno and BN cannot indeed afford to be either arrogant or complacent. Admitting the need for reform is a show of humility and courage, and a sign of realisation of clear and present danger against the ruling BN.

Naturally, there is a bottomless chasm between declared intention and actualization of purpose.

Umno is an old party mired in tradition and old thinking. Datuk Seri Najib’s vision of change for the party will require a critical self-examination of all Umno leaders and members from the bottom up.

Many of these Umno people have been entrenched in decades of consolidating their vested interest. Others have been stuck in their ancient quagmire of local power struggle for decades. A change in party ideology and cultural practices will threaten their positions in the party, and so they will resist this call for reform. They may even cause trouble in the next party election.

Much of the malaise with money politics is also related to pandemic corruption at all levels of society, not least of which within the government itself. Unless Datuk Seri Tun Razak tackled corruption effectively in both the public and private sectors, his attempt at cleaning up Umno may be in vain.

In the days and years ahead, Malaysians throughout the length and breadth of Malaysia will be watching Umno closely, to see whether they walk the talk or not on party reform.

Their very uplifting general assembly may have just concluded, but the real task of reforming Umno has just begun. It is a matter of life and death for both Umno and BN in the uncharted waters of a new Malaysia.