The la-la land that Umno is in

PETALING JAYA – Though he was calm, collected and almost stoic, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was not one to mince his words over the current state of Umno.

Specifically, about the leadership spearheading the biggest Malay party in the country.

“It is as if there is a denial syndrome among them,” said the party vice-president, bluntly, in an exclusive interview with Sinar Daily.

“Many of them...they still think the Malays need Umno. But question is, do the Malays think so?” the rhetorical truth bomb continued.

Ouch. It stings but Ismail Sabri was not wrong in his assessment.

Umno had lost miserably in the previous national poll (GE15), winning only 26 parliamentary seats. Even more so when the defeat happened against the party’s triumphant backdrop in the Melaka and Johor state elections.

What made it mind-boggling was that the upper echelons in Umno knew the risk of such a dismal outcome even before parliament was dissolved to pave the way for GE15.

“I have told them so in the the-Supreme Council Meeting. Even the Wanita Chief informed them that our white seats were only between 35 to 38.

“Despite knowing so, they still insisted. Although some blamed me for being late [to dissolve the parliament], even if it was done earlier, we would still lose,” Ismail Sabri remarked.

Although it lost, Umno managed to be part of the government after cutting a controversial deal with its political nemesis, Pakatan Harapan (PH), which caused much acrimony among its die-hard members.

The bad optics then continued in the party’s general assembly held last month, where the party decided to not open the top two posts – president and deputy president – for contest in the coming party election slated to be in May.

The decision was controversial because the motion was proposed at the eleventh hour by a delegate from the Rembau division – the same division the deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan was from.

At a press conference held following the conclusion of the assembly, party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Mohamad remarked they were “surprised” with the motion.

It was an excuse that led Ismail Sabri to let out a short dry laugh during the interview with Sinar Daily.

“We cannot make a fool of our members and the people.

“I am a division leader, if someone from my division say something, do you think I can simply say ‘oh he did not refer anything to me’?

“I don’t think so,” he stressed.

The party’s latest gaffe was the sacking and suspension of prominent and popular party leaders who were vocal in airing out their criticisms.

This was an odd turn of events because it contradicted Zahid’s forgiving tone towards those who did not toe the party line.

Umno has become a rather weird animal these days. On one end, it claimed to celebrate differences of opinions, while on the other, it sacked those with dissenting views.

What made the sacking and suspension even weirder was insiders claiming that only three elected supreme council members were for such decision.

“Judging from what is happening today, it seems that there is no freedom of expression. At least that is the perception by many.

“The disciplinary committee [Umno’s] has never called them for questioning over their purported sabotages within the party. So, we don’t know the actual reason.

“But the people can tell. For example, KJ (sacked former youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin) was very vocal. He speaks up against the president during the election campaign.

“People can relate and see for themselves, and what they saw was that those who were vocal have had actions taken against them,” said Ismail Sabri.

Umno pride itself in being the sacred Malay party. Being 76 years old, the party has been around since pre-Merdeka days, boasting 3.5 million members, 191 divisions and 22,000 branches.

Against such a backdrop, the fact that it only managed to secure 34 per cent of Malay votes in GE15 compared to Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) 54 per cent, was no doubt the most bitter pill the party had to swallow.

“And we keep on sending the wrong signals. Especially to the Malay young voters,” Ismail Sabri remarked.