RECENTLY, UMNO supreme council member Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz blasted the Selangor chapter of the party for failing to win back support following its dismal performance in the Aug 12 state elections last year.

Zafrul who had earlier quit as Selangor UMNO treasurer also lamented on his social media post that eight months since the polls, there had been no in-depth post-mortem nor new strategies for the party to turn the tide.

The Investment Trade and Industry Minister said UMNO needed to adopt new political cultures based on intellectual discourses that were focused on solutions and policies.

While all these are true, Tengku Zafrul has chosen to turn a blind eye on some of the more jarring reasons why voters - particularly in Selangor - have turned their back on the party that used to be the lynchpin of not just the Federal government but at the state level for decades.

For one, many are unhappy that Zafrul’s boss and UMNO president Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi is still around. Discharged but not acquitted under questionable circumstances, the Deputy Prime Minister who had 47 corruption cases against him remains an albatross around UMNO’s neck.

Silent on Akmal’s uproar

The ailing Zahid and his coterie of supporters are in fact the epitome of Old Politics which Malaysians are trying to turn their back on but the Bagan Datuk MP is showing no signs of calling it a day.

Presumably, he wouldn’t want to be back in the dock as he had not been fully acquitted yet.

And it is Zahid’s strongman politics that had hindered UMNO’s efforts to groom young talented leaders from within the party rank-and-file. The best example was how Zahid sacked the hugely popular ex-Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin for going against him.

Without a formidable second-liner, how would UMNO rejuvenate and win over the populace? Surely, the party couldn’t always rely on “parachute” candidates with supposed royal backing to catapult himself or herself to the political frontlines, right?

A former banker who himself lost in the Kuala Selangor Parliamentary seat in the 15^th General Election (GE15), Tengku Zafrul should also own up to the fact that Malaysians are put off with the antics of UMNO Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh.

The Melaka executive councillor’s extreme posturing over the KK Super Mart issue has hit a raw nerve - not just with the non-Muslims - but large segments of Muslims in Selangor, especially in urban and suburban areas.

Why didn’t Tengku Zafrul speak up? Is the UMNO Kota Raja division chief out to make himself popular or settle political scores with his outburst?

While Tengku Zafrul’s suggestions on party rejuvenation such as modernising organisational operations and instilling new politics like articulating policy makes sense, these would still come to naught if the root causes are not addressed.

Tengku Zafrul needs to stop barking at the wrong tree but be honest in addressing the elephant in the room. - April 10, 2024  

https://focusmalaysia.my/tengku-zafrul-misses-the-elephant-in-the-room-when-addressing-the-need-to-rejuvenate-selangor-umno/