Umno's VP Johari admits Umno are the ones who needs the Malay, not the other way around

KUALA LUMPUR - Umno Vice President Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani challenged the prevailing notion within the party regarding its relationship with the Malay community.

"According to the statistics, in Kelantan, we secured two state seats out of 45; in Terengganu, zero out of 36; in Kedah, zero out of 36; in Perlis, zero out of 15; and in Selangor, two out of 56—these are areas with large Malay populations.

"If Malays truly need Umno, how is it that we have such poor results? Personally, I need Umno.

"If we continue to believe that Malays need Umno and yet see these results, we will fail," he said in his final speech during the 2024 Umno General Assembly at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTC) on Saturday.

Johari further stressed that he was impressed by the Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's speech yesterday, which was supported by all delegates.

He highlighted that Umno must regain its dominance, but achieving this requires a significant collective effort, not just the responsibility of the president but of all branch leaders, divisions, and other leaders.

Johari also urged not to rest on past successes, and if mistakes have been made, Umno should apologise to Malaysia.

He also called for Umno to rise and become more dynamic, fresh, clean, and consistently moderate, progressive, and be a representative of all Malaysians.

He added that as long as Umno sticks to the same strategy, things won't change, because politics evolves through dynamic shifts.

Johari also pointed out that Umno’s decision to bring MCA and MIC back was to foster greater dynamism.