Former deputy minister Saifuddin Abdullah has called on the Umno grassroots to "speak up" at their coming divisional general meetings about their concerns, including on 1MDB and the money scandal surrounding party president Najib Abdul Razak.

The grassroots must keep in mind that it is their responsibility to make sure Umno continues to adhere to their struggles, Saifuddin said.

"To my brothers and sisters in Umno, many of you especially at the grassroots cannot imagine big numbers of money. You become a member in Umno, you work day and night during the elections only because you believe in the struggle of Umno. The original struggle and there's nothing wrong with it.

"In the coming few weeks, there will be many division meetings. My plea for my brothers and sisters is, please speak up," he said in his talk to the gathering at the ‘Where do we go from here’ forum in Kuala Lumpur last night.

Cracks in Umno were seen after the 1MDB fiasco hit the international headlines these two months.

It got worse on July 28 when Najib replaced his deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin ( photo ) as deputy prime minister with party vice-president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Najib also dropped another vice-president, Shafie Apdal, from the cabinet.

Both Muhyiddin and Shafie have been very vocal in their criticism of the 1MDB imbroglio.

Since then several Umno divisions have voiced out their dissatisfaction at the ongoing divisional annual general meetings.

Saifuddin wants Umno to be a competitive party and to able to win in an equal playing field during elections, as it is Umno's trait to do so.

"I think Umno members must make sure that the party is competitive in clean and fair elections. If we lose, we can come back. I think that is what Umno is all about. Umno must be a competitive party," he said.

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