Umno polls last chance to save party, says ex-NST chief: KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 — The Umno elections this month is the party’s last chance to redeem itself among Malays, Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said in his latest blog post. Pundits have observed the results of Malaysia’s last two general elections signal an increasing number of Malays from the younger age set and who live in towns are growing disenchanted with the grand old party’s leadership and are throwing their vote behind the opposition’s urban-based PKR and Islamic-focused PAS. On his blog, The Scribe, the former New Straits Times (NST) group editor-in-chief stressed the party must reinvigorate its leadership, and as such must reject candidates who are guilty of crime, graft and money politics. “If Umno wants to recover from the dilemma and malady that it suffers from and wants to return as the Malays’ party of choice, it needs clean, transparent, competent, young and energetic leadership,” A. Kadir said in a post yesterday. “This polls is the last chance for Umno to reinvigorate its leadership and return the idealism of its struggle,” he added, saying that should this do not happen, there is a huge possibility of Umno becoming a party torn between life and death. A. Kadir’s remark followed the revelation on Monday that 334 candidates vying for the various posts in Umno have been disqualified after they were found to be bankrupt. Added to that, 495 candidates had withdrawn and 39 were probed for disciplinary issues, said Umno election committee chief Tan Sri Tajol Rosli Ghazali. Umno executive secretary Datuk Rauf Yusof also revealed that 1,703 delegates would not be allowed to vote, also for bankruptcy. A. Kadir has likened those who are in debt to a slave, claiming that there are many Malays who prefer to take debts outside their means and never mean to settle them. “People who are in debts, but do not pay their debts back, and then declared bankrupt because they did not pay their debts, are not fit to be leaders. “Choosing them as leaders is the same as choosing slaves as leaders,” he said, explaining that those in debt are slaves to their debts. Former Sabak Bernam MP for Umno, Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakri, was sentenced to six years’ jail and RM400,000 fine in 2012 for eight counts of misappropriating public funds while being a member of the Selangor State Assembly. Umno’s former Selangor Mentri Besar Dr Mohamed Khir Toyo was convicted last year of graft in buying a bungalow and two plots of land in 2007. He had since filed an appeal with the Federal Court. Datuk Seri Ali Rustam, who is contesting for the Umno vice-president post this year, was disqualified in 2009 from running for deputy president after being found guilty of money politics. A total of 146,500 Umno members will cast their votes for the top leadership of the party, adopting the “electoral college” system which merges the election systems from the United States and the United Kingdom. dlvr.it/46WX0s
Posted on: Thu, 10 Oct 2013 08:53:14 +0000
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