Syed Hamid, a former Umno Supreme Council member, spoke to FMT about the forthcoming Umno elections and said that the party needed a new beginning after Umno and partners were defeated at the recent general election.
He said Umno had not done too badly but “the problem is that Umno’s partners are not right, so they cannot contribute at all.
“The beauty of Pakatan Harapan is that everyone contributed. That’s how they were able to win the simple majority.”
Of Umno’s partners, he said “Gerakan, MCA, myPPP are just wasting their money and time.”
Barisan Nasional won only 79 Dewan Rakyat seats out of 222 contested at the election. Umno won 54, MIC 2, MCA 1, while Gerakan and myPPP were wiped out. The remaining BN seats came from Sabah and Sarawak.
Pakatan Harapan won 113 for a simple majority, comprising PKR 48, DAP 42, PPBM 12, and Amanah 11, while its allies Warisan Sabah and others won 12.
Syed Hamid said in the wake of the defeat, “Umno has got to think about the future and what it wants to do. I think it definitely has to be rejuvenated. It can’t be business as usual.”
Making improvements to the party was still worthwhile as Umno did not do so badly at the election. “Umno has got a core of loyal supporters just like PAS. In fact, Umno has got more. If you look at the percentage of votes they got, the core supporters remained steadfast.”