How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.
– Benjamin Franklin, American stateman and scientist
“No individual is bigger than the party”, that’s probably the line of thinking that the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) brass has for its party renegades.
National daily Utusan Malaysia reported that an internal “cleansing” is taking shape soon with big names said to be among the casualties.
In the party brass’ no-list appears to be former UMNO youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and former Selangor party chief Tan Sri Noh Omar among others.
But then again, questions linger whether all this is warranted – part of UMNO president’s Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s bid to consolidate power, after being returned as party president unopposed in the last general assembly.
The UMNO top leaders got what they wanted, a clear path to dominance with the party tabling a no-contest motion for its top posts recently.
Although questions were raised over its legality – or at the very least, its morality in doing so.
The grand old party has been at the heart of the nation’s administration for a large chunk of 60 over years. The only time that it was not part of the government was a brief two years after the 14th general election (GE14) until early 2020.
While the party is in government at least in name, the top brass was not included in the Cabinet, with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) led government of 2020 taking lower ranking UMNO members into the fold.
Analysts viewed this as a ploy to weaken UMNO systematically and to an extent, they appear to be right.
UMNO heavyweights Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, Tan Sri Annuar Musa and Khairy were part of the Cabinet along with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS).
When UMNO took reins as prime minister in 2021, it was Ismail Sabri who occupied the post – not the party president, Ahmad Zahid.
The government then still had to depend on Bersatu, and they were adamant that top UMNO leaders will not be included.
Thus, it caused an internal friction within UMNO, with its leadership along with the grassroots turning on the UMNO ministers then.
They viewed that these UMNO ministers who were in government was aligned to Bersatu and did not put their own party first and foremost.
It has been said before that Bersatu, for all intents and purposes were meant to replace UMNO and not work alongside it, together in a same government.
That was the message by UMNO to the grassroots and apparently, they took it to heart.
Ahmad Zahid, who has been a much-maligned figure, at least by its own party members in Cabinet, had the last word – when it came to naming candidates for the party for the 15th general election (GE15).
In a nutshell, he did not think twice to exert his full power and mandate. A number of Bersatu-leaning UMNO heavyweights were dropped.
Out went Annuar Musa, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim and Noh Omar. Khairy was moved out of his seat and instead fielded in a Pakatan Harapan (PH) stronghold which proved to be a suicide mission.
All this, observers viewed, were to exact political revenge and cling to power. But it had to be pointed out that the clear-out did not pay off.
UMNO still needed strength in terms of political influence in some states – with its warlords being ousted, it only meant ensuring an easy path for its opponents to win some seats in UMNO strongholds.
The strategy backfired and the grand old party had to settle for a mere 30 seats, its worst ever election showing.
The reason why UMNO moved on from this quickly was due to its ability to still have a commanding influence in the government, being the kingmaker in GE15.
Credit was given to Ahmad Zahid for making the best out of a bad situation, but it does not have to occur in the first place.
UMNO, for all intents and purposes were meant to be the backbone of the government and not a kingmaker.
The general assembly recently was an opportunity to put the party on the right track – one they should have been on since their first defeat in GE14. But that did not happen.
Getting rid of influential leaders is not the priority now – it’s time to mend fences and unity among its members and grassroots.
Being in government is UMNO’s only saving grace. A mass internal cleansing does not make the party stronger, only weaker.
The grand old party could not afford to be weakened further.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
