JOHOR BAHRU - The Umno president and deputy president position should not be contested, and efforts should be placed to strengthen and return the trust of the people towards the party after the 15th General Election (GE15).
Johor Umno deputy chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said there were only four presidential elections throughout 70 years of Umno’s establishment.
He explained the election involved Tunku Abdul Rahman and Ahmad Fuad Hassan (1951), Tun Hussein Onn and Sulaiman Palestin (1978), Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tengku Razaleigh Tengku Mohd Hamzah (Ku Li) (1987) as well as Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and four competitors (2018).
"I once again stand by the motion that the posts for president and deputy president should not be contested for the sake of strengthening the party, unity and efforts towards restoring the support for Umno.
"If we hold the election, who are we going to raise as the new president and deputy president?
"Do we want to hope for those cowards who ran after Umno lost in GE14, do we want to depend on those who failed to become the ninth prime minister, or should we leave the fate of the party to those who were busy being the broker who sold Umno’s pride to the opposing parties?
"Umno wanted to choose an individual who was ready to replace the president while giving a speech on stage for the GE15 campaign but lost in a liberal state.
"He rejected his own state, after being given a second chance to contest in another state because he was supposedly popular, he still lost,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Jazlan reminded members not to be swayed by some MPs who won under the party ticket but were accused of colluding with the opposition.
He said the MPs were known to have been campaigning to become the Umno president and deputy president before GE15.
"I remind Umno members not to be swayed by the MPs who won under Umno’s ticket but had forgotten about the party.
"Not only did some of them hopped (to other parties), but some were worse by colluding with Mahathir and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
"Let's focus on how we want to strengthen Umno and return the trust towards the people after being slandered for so long.
"The position of Zahid as deputy prime minister and Rural and Regional Development Minister is the best platform to approach and rebuild the trust of rural residents towards Umno's capabilities to protect the people," he said.