Has Umno deviated from its original ideological struggle?

KUALA LUMPUR - One of the reasons of Malay voters' rejection is that they construe Umno as going astray from its original ideological struggle.

Former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said one of the proofs of this was when the party's leadership dismantled Muafakat Nasional which was the hope of the Malay community for unity.

To make matters worse, he said, was when the party's top leadership dragged Umno to collabprate with DAP and even urged the machinery to work and vote for the party in the elections.

"Umno's influence in the Malay Belt - Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu - is critical, like a patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

"Umno only managed to win one seat. It lost 20 seats compared to the 14th General Election (GE14).

"Initial analysis shows that Malay voters' support for Pakatan Harapan (PH)-Barisan Nasional (BN) in Kedah is only 17 per cent. Perikatan Nasional (PN) won 21 state seats with a majority of over 10,000 votes and four state seats with a majority of over 20,000 votes.

"Therefore, Umno needs a drastic change in its approach, to sell a narrative that is acceptable to the people and a change in leadership to remain relevant in the country's political landscape," he said.

He said this in his column 'Jalar Fikir' published in Utusan Malaysia today.

Ismail who is also the Bera Umno division chairman said the results of the recent state elections showed that the party seemed to rely on non-Malay votes to achieve victory.

"This is something that has never happened before.

"Do not let Umno's fate be like that of MCA and Gerakan, which had to depend on Malay votes to win any seats in the elections," he said.

He added that for Umno to recover, it required a dynamic leadership that was capable of restoring the party's ideological struggle.