A feeble Umno no longer worries the Malays – Dr Mahathir

PUTRAJAYA – There used to be a time when a weak Umno would spell something foreboding for the country – due to its dominating clout among the Malays – but alas, that was in the past.

These days, a feeble Umno is an ill omen only to the party, not the Malays in the country, said former party president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in an exclusive interview with Sinar Daily.

“The electorates have changed.

“The people who are voting today are not the same people who voted at the beginning of the independence who were very appreciative of independence.

“They tend to stay with the party that fought for independence,” said the 98-year-old former prime minister in Sinar Daily’s Fireside Chat.

Having ruled the country since the first General Election (GE) in 1955, Umno has been a downward trend since its uninterrupted grip on Malaysia was lost in 2018.

In last year’s GE, the Malay party also suffered another round of defeat at national polls, winning only 26 parliamentary seats of the 120 seats it contested.

Its latest trouncing was in the Aug 12 state polls, failing to win a single seat in Kedah and Terengganu, and won only one seat in Kelantan.

"It lost ground in Penang, Selangor and even in Negeri Sembilan, where it performed best, winning a paltry 16 seats.

“Umno has been thoroughly spoiled. In fact, the Umno that we have today is not the original Umno.

"Today, Umno is fighting for cash, for money, trying to make money out of politics.

“That is what have destroyed Umno. The Umno that you have today is an Umno in name only. In terms of objective, it is no longer Umno.

“So, those who find that Umno has deviated from its original purposes, those people leave Umno and as you can see, where before Umno, in an election, would win almost 100 seats now it has been reduced to about 17 seats.

“This meant that the people have rejected Umno,” Mahathir concluded.

And if Umno continues to deviate from its founding purpose of championing the interest of the Malays at large, Mahathir deemed that the party will “continue to lose more and more support.”