Khairy, who recently rejoined the party following his sacking in 2023, said Umno still has a long way to go in reclaiming voter trust.

“We can’t just say, ‘Oh, we’ve made mistakes, now vote for us again’. Acknowledging the mistakes sets the stage for us to perhaps reintroduce ourselves to swing voters or those in the middle ground who may have lost trust in us,” he told reporters after attending Umno’s 80th anniversary convention here.

Khairy said it was not enough for Umno to just reminisce about the past. “We have to come up with a new set of ideas and suggestions on what we would offer voters if we are given the opportunity to govern again,” he said.

Umno still has time to rebuild ahead of the next general election, but the party must act decisively to regain public trust.

“There’s still more than one and a half years and I think we have momentum with us,” he said, pointing to a surge of membership applications from younger people following the launch of online registration. Almost 14,000 people have applied to be members of the party in two weeks.

Khairy’s remarks came when asked to comment on a warning by Umno vice-president Johari Ghani earlier today that the party should not cling to nostalgia. Johari said party members must accept that Umno is no longer the dominant political force it once was, and must accept that it holds only 26 parliamentary seats and no longer leads the federal government.

Umno, through Barisan Nasional, is part of the Pakatan Harapan-led unity coalition government.