Umno should not be bl umno agm egm 151009 delegates amed as the major cause for the setback suffered by Barisan Nasional in the last general elections, said an Umno delegate from Kedah today.

Debating the presidential address, Md Rozai Safian suggested that the ruling coalition's partners were the "destroyers".

Although he did not directly imply which component parties contributed to the defeat, it could be taken as a thinly veiled attack against major partners such as MCA and MIC.

In the last general elections, both parties had failed to retain many of their state seats when large percentages of swing-votes favoured the opposition.

This had resulted in the ruling coalition losing its two-thirds majority in Parliament and at the same time four states slipped into the opposition's hands for the first time and the opposition's hold on a fifth strengthened.

As the Malay saying goes, added Md Rozai, " seperti memukul anak menyindir menantu" which literally means "beating the daughter to vex the daughter-in-law".

In this case, the daughter is Umno and the daughter-in-law, the component parties.

"Umno was attacked for the setback we suffered, but other component parties failed to acknowledge that they, too, need to face changes," he said.

An omen indicated Kedah would suffer

NONE According to Md Rozai, he had noticed an omen indicating that Kedah would suffer physically and politically long before the northern state fell to the Pakatan last year.

It, said Md Rozai, was the deadly tsunami that swept South East Asia in 2004, affecting some parts of Kedah.

"Many people do not know how much we have suffered administrating this state. First we were struck by a tsunami, then Jitra was hit by floods," he said.

However, their nightmares did not end there, as Kedah was again hit with a political crisis when former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad chose to leave Umno.

Mahathir had resigned from Umno last year in protest against the leadership of his successor and former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi which he claimed led to their major reversals in the 2008 elections.

Md Rozai then compared the suffering the Kedah people had undergone with that of being caught in the middleof two elephants fighting.

He added that he was struck with sadness when fingers started pointing at them following the disappointing results of the last polls.

"When we won in the elections, many people would praise us. But when we lost, there was no collective responsibility as they refused to shoulder the blame," he said.