Umno Youth: PH-BN merger not beneficial

SHAH ALAM - The unity government's victory in maintaining the status quo in the recent state elections has been described as nothing impressive and unbeneficial for Barisan Nasional (BN) after the party lost 89 state seats.

Umno Kapar Youth Chief Mohd Affifi Mohd Aris said that initially, the party members were persuaded that the PH-BN merger would be beneficial, with the formulation that PH would dominate the states on the west coast and Umno(BN) would dominate the conditions on the east coast.

However, he said the opposite happened when the voters rejected the PH-BN coalition despite the calls for unity.

"This proves that this formulation was just wishful thinking for PH-BN, except for the Democratic Action Party (DAP), which contested 47 seats and won 46.

"The reality is that DAP is growing stronger while Umno (BN) is weakening. Will DAP not question the People's Justice Party (PKR) about Umno becoming a liability to the government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim?

"Or is this liability only involving certain individuals within Umno that have caused the premier to make new choices in the future to ensure the people regain confidence in him?" he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Mohd Affifi stated that the recent events indicated the people's rejection of Umno-BN. This can be defined as the people's manifestation against the party.

Therefore, he said BN must take full responsibility for rebuilding its dominance as it once was.

"This defeat, when calculated in percentages, constitutes an 82 per cent failure rate for Umno.

"This is the worst and most embarrassing result in Malaysian political history for the oldest party that is 77 years old," he said.

However, he said Umno is not guilty but needs rectification.

"I hold in high regard the party for which, when I was young, my grandparents and family fought tirelessly for Umno-BN, and now I see the decline of Umno worsening.

"I resolve to mend this party, and it must start with the Youth. It is true that the Malaysian people still hold a deep affection for the Umno-BN party; let us not kill this party for our interests," he said.