Umno to 'free Penang from DAP neo-colonisation'

Umno vice-president and Penang party chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today declared that the party will liberate the people of the state from the grip of the DAP.

“I am confident that together we can free the people of Penang from the clutches of the neo-colonisation spearheaded by the DAP under (chief minister) Lim Guan Eng,” he said.

In his winding-up speech at the Umno general assembly today, Zahid pointed out that even though they are now in the opposition, Umno won 11 state seats in the 2008 general election.

This is only three seats less than in 2004 when the BN took the state, compared to other BN component parties who could not win a single seat in 2008.

“Where did we go wrong? Only Umno remains to offer support for BN in Penang, and sadly we can only be in the opposition,” he said.

Zahid, who is also defence minister, added that the Penang Pakatan Rakyat administration has not only been “haywire” but “obviously has a hidden agenda”.

He noted that the most disappointing part about DAP’s “neo-colonisation” is the fact that it is “backed by someone who used to be with us but is willing to betray the struggle of our race”.

“My advice to that person is that times have changed so don’t try to evade the situation… Repent before your time is up,” he said, in an apparent reference to opposition leader and Penangite Anwar Ibrahim.

Umno voter registration lagging

Despite Zahid’s strong words, the reality on the ground seems to be less than rosy for the party.

For example, fellow Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal in his winding-up speech noted that in 2010, Penang Umno had only managed to register a little over 3,000 new voters - a far cry to DAP’s 20,274.

He said that while the BN comes to about par with the opposition in majority Malay states like Johor and Kedah, the fact remains they trail in several non-Malay majority states.

Worse still, said Shafie, checks found that about 700,000 Umno members are not registered as voters.

“The sense of urgency to retain and win back power is missing and it worries me… We may still be swayed by the belief that we will stay here forever.

“Election is a numbers game… In Air Itam, Kedah, we lost to PAS by 506 votes, and in that area, we have 1,400 Umno members who are not registered voters,” he said.

‘Real Malays’ please stand up

Meanwhile, Shafie also made a slight nod to Najib Razak’s call for inclusiveness; his colleagues Zahid and fellow vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein however were cooler on the matter, except in jest.

Commenting on Najib’s mention of how Malays of different descents are still Malays, Hishammuddin made a big show about how his cousin did not mention those of Turkish descent.

In a light-hearted moment, the home minister said, (Malacca chief minister) Ali Rustam is Bengali Malay, (Perak Menteri Besar) Zambry Abdul Kadir is a mamak Malay, (Sabah chief minister) Musa (Aman) is a Pakistan Dusun Malay. (Umno Putera chief) Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, status unknown.

“This is the great thing about Malays, the greatness of Umno and the inclusiveness of Umno,” he said, also referring to Shafie as “Semporna lanun (pirate),” quipped Hishammuddin.

Running with the joke, Zahid got the delegates in stitches by mentioning a few other leaders from the Malay-only party, including Wanita chief Shahrizat Jalil.

Not to be left out, deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin told the delegates that he comes from Bugis-Javanese parentage “of which the result is Malay”.

Najib finally jumped in calling Muhyiddin, Shafie and Hishammuddin “the Javanese, the Turkish and the pirate.”