BATU PAHAT: Umno must eliminate the culture of 'obsession with securing candidacies' within the party if it aims to restore public trust, particularly among the youth.

Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said the culture was one of the factors behind the party's poor performance from the 12th general election up to the 15th general election.

He said that from the first general election through to the 11th general election, Umno had a strong track record, which led many of their leaders to vie for candidacies with confidence in their chances of winning.

He added that by the 13th general election, a new culture had evolved where people aggressively sought candidacies, sometimes going so far as to sabotage the party to secure their nomination.

"Why did this happen? Because they observed that from the first general election to the 11th, it didn't matter who the candidate is... kayu kw, songkok ke, besi ke, they would still win.

"As a result, Umno's struggle eventually shifted to finding anyone who could be a candidate, with the belief that once they were nominated, they would automatically win.

"This obsession (of wanting to be candidates) gradually crept in without us realising it. But the people have been giving us hints," he said when officiating the Ayer Hitam Umno Division meeting today.

Present at the event was Umno Division head Datuk Samsolbari Jamali.

Johari said that after going through 11 general elections with two-thirds victories, Umno was hit by a tsunami that led to the loss of five states, a situation that persists to this day.

He said that despite the party's two-thirds victories at that time, an analysis showed that the party's majority margin had been progressively decreasing.

He also acknowledged that Umno had become stagnant as a party, failing to evolve and repeatedly using the same approaches and strategies.

"We were hoping for a different outcome that was unlikely to happen. We had already won two-thirds, and after that, we won with a simple majority.

"Because of that, we became complacent. As a result, some of the people couldn't tolerate it and only gave us a simple majority. When we won with a simple majority, most of the areas we won had a majority of less than 1,000 votes.

"At that time, it wasn't because they (the opposition) were strong. They didn't even have proper machinery, yet they could win even after just two weeks. It's completely illogical, and now there are only 26 seats," he said.

Meanwhile, Johari, when met after the event, said he wants to see Umno being rejuvenated from within and restoring its reputation for future generations.

He said he wants to maintain the victory in Ayer Hitam because it is one of Umno's strongholds.

"In Ayer Hitam, we secured 100 per cent of the seats (both state and parliamentary). My point is that when we are dominant in a particular area, we should not take it for granted. Additionally, when Umno is strong, MCA also benefits automatically," he said, adding that despite Ayer Hitam being a Malay-majority area, MCA is strong when they contest there.

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2024/07/1082457/move-away-obsession-become-candidates-jo-ghani-tells-umno-members