UMNO to reposition itself as ‘grand home of the Malays’ with new committee, says party president Ahmad Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR: The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) will form a “unity committee” in a bid to reunite the country’s Malays politically, said its president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Friday (Jan 16), signalling its efforts to heal internal party fractures.     

The deputy prime minister said the move would facilitate the return of former members and political rivals - whether individually or en bloc - as part of a broader mission to reposition UMNO as the “grand home for the Malays”.

The move appears to be part of the Malay nationalist party’s aim to welcome back former members who have left the fold, something that had been hinted at by the UMNO Supreme Council previously. The council is the party’s top policy-making body. 

“UMNO’s responsibility today is far greater because UMNO is the home of the race - a place to reunite the Malays. This shall be achieved not through the rhetoric of anger, nor through historical grudges, but with a clear direction and a greatness of spirit,” Zahid said during his opening speech at the party’s general assembly held at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur. 

“To that end, the doors of this home are always wide open. Here is where we were born and this is where we were raised. And here is where we forged the very meaning of our struggle,” he added. 

Zahid, however, did not provide further details of this committee and what it entails.

In his speech, he claimed that parties such as Parti Se-Islam Malaysia (PAS), Semangat 46, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), Parti Warisan, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) all had its roots traced back to UMNO.

“Some were born from conflict and disappointment, others from a difference in direction. This is not a history to be boasted about with arrogance, but one to be reflected upon with humility. Malay-Islamic politics cannot remain scattered,” he said.

Drawing over 6,000 delegates from around the country, Umno’s general assembly comes at a critical juncture for the party, which turns 80 this year. 

The annual gathering, originally scheduled for August last year, was initially moved to November before being postponed a second time as the party focused on the Nov 29 Sabah state election.

The assembly takes place amid rising friction with other political parties in the unity government, especially the Democratic Action Party (DAP), following two unfavourable court rulings for former prime minister and UMNO’s immediate past president Najib Razak last December. 

This and trouble in opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN) led to calls for UMNO and PAS to revive its Muafakat Nasional (MN) platform - the Malay-Muslim pact that was once thought dead.

Zahid on Friday said that as UMNO was the original “home” of Malay politics, the party had to serve as a bridge to repair broken ties and unify scattered voices. 

Giving an analogy, Zahid said that past attempts to create a “big umbrella” for Malays without UMNO had failed because it was not “attached to its original home”. 

“That umbrella collapsed because it was not anchored to its original home. Why do we need an umbrella when the house already stands firm and majestic? The history of this house of the nation will never be erased,” he said.

In July last year, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamed was reported to have announced the formation of an informal Malay committee, describing it as a “big umbrella” to unify the Malay community.

“They (Malays) need fighters to champion their cause. Right now, they don’t have a dedicated fighter,” he was quoted as saying by news portal Malaysiakini. 

“We’re not concerned with other problems, we just want to focus on one struggle - the struggle to save the Malays,” Mahathir had said then.

Zahid’s announcement on Friday of the committee to facilitate the return of former members comes on the heels of former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s appearance at the UMNO Youth general assembly on Thursday three years after he was sacked from the party. 

The former chief of the UMNO Youth wing said that he had received Zahid’s blessing to attend the event - a sign of the party’s open-door policy to welcome back its former members. 

“It’s a very emotional day as I am able to rejoin my party gathering,” Khairy told reporters, even as he remained coy about rejoining UMNO. 

“One step at a time. Today, I came as an observer.”

Khairy was sacked from UMNO in January 2023 for violating party discipline. UMNO’s then-supreme council member Noh Omar was sacked alongside Khairy while several others were suspended from the party. 

They had criticised UMNO and were critical of its top leadership following the party’s trouncing at the general elections in November 2022.

UMNO information chief Azalina Othman Said told reporters that the party must first deliberate on the proposed committee before it moves on to the next phase.

She said that Zahid was trying to lay the groundwork to get responses from the delegates at the assembly.   

“As a democratic party, we have to listen to the voice of the grassroots,” she said when asked about details on the committee.   

APPEAL FOR NAJIB

During his speech on Friday, Zahid also issued a plea to Malaysia’s king Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar to pardon Najib, who has been jailed at the Kajang prison in Selangor since August 2022.

"When it comes to Najib, our support has never changed. Our efforts to defend him have never wavered,” said Zahid.

"UMNO humbly petitions and appeals to the grace of His Majesty for compassion toward Najib, seeking any form of consideration or leniency that would allow him to return to the embrace of his family and to all of us."

Zahid also denied that UMNO supported the unity government - led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim - so that he could save himself, while sidelining Najib. 

Just last week, Malaysia’s Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) announced that no further action will be taken on the 47 court charges previously brought against him after a discharge not amounting to an acquittal was granted in September 2023. 

Zahid had previously pleaded not guilty to all 47 charges - 12 counts of criminal breach of trust, eight for bribery and 27 for money laundering - involving tens of millions of ringgit belonging to the charitable foundation of which he is a trustee and sole signatory for cheques. 

The discharge not amounting to an acquittal granted in September 2023 had allowed prosecutors to revive the case should fresh evidence emerge.

Zahid also admitted on Friday that the party paid an expensive price for joining the unity government, saying that it was accused of betraying the interests of the Malays and Islam, merely to cling to power. 

“Furthermore, UMNO is accused of being fearful and submissive to its political partners within the unity government," he said.

He also said that it has caused rifts in the close relations among Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties.

Longstanding BN component parties, including the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), have already signaled their discontent, with some leaders openly touting the possibility of exiting the coalition. 

However, Zahid did say that the political landscape forced UMNO to accept the fact that no single party can govern on its own and that it was a new reality that demanded them to step out of their old political comfort zones.

“This is not easy. I know there are some among us who feel awkward and sceptical about cooperating with our former political rivals. However, this is the current necessity for the sake of national stability. Politics is the art of compromise. 

“Coalition politics demands the art of compromise and a greatness of spirit. We must learn to cooperate without sacrificing the fundamental principles of our struggle," he said, pointing out that the current unity government is made up of 17 political parties.

UMNO, which is the oldest political party in Malaysia, lost its 61-year hold on government when it was voted out of power in favour of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition - then led by Mahathir - during the 14th General Election in 2018.

The party, which ruled Malaysia as the anchor party of the BN coalition since the country’s independence, lost power on the back of widespread public anger over the scandal at state-owned investment vehicle 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

The 1MDB scandal subsequently led to the conviction and jailing of Najib for corruption. 

UMNO only won 26 seats in the last general election in November 2022, its worst-ever performance at a general election. It won 54 seats in the 2018 elections and 89 in the 2013 elections.

BN is currently in Anwar’s unity government with the PH coalition alongside GPS, GRS and Warisan after the 15th general elections in November 2022 resulted in a hung parliament.

The next general elections - GE16 - must be held by early 2028.