I am writing in reply to Nash Rahman's article 'Umno Youth leaders must come back down to Earth' (June 21).

Though I firmly respect Nash Rahman's views with respect to the current challenges facing Umno Youth (him being a revered ex-news editor of Berita Harian ); I am somewhat disappointed with most of his remarks, which has urged my inclinations to warrant a reply to his claims.

Firstly, the writer seems to represent the old school of Umno Youth; the type that faced all issues through confrontation; muscles and brawn. This is the type of leadership patented through the early 1950s and really proved its worth during the 1960s and 1970s. Leaders like Dato' Harun Idris and even Tun Abdul Razak Hussein themselves were revered for their strength in leadership (as pointed out correctly by Mr Rahman).

Unfortunately that is not the case now. The writer must expand his horizons beyond that of the old school and realise the grim reality facing Umno Youth of today. The days of brawn and pressure through physical means are long gone. Today's younger society is well-equipped mentally to cope with such attacks, reducing such tactics to a cameo role.

Nowadays, problems or controversies must be met with brains rather than heart. If Umno Youth had maintained its confrontational stance during the Suqiu 'affair'; I would guess that the matter would still be clogging the headlines till today.

The fact that a small group could sit together and discuss rationally with Suqiu over their demands and getting the job done without having to compromise the Malay position goes to great length to prove that times have changed. These young people sat together with people who were 'hostile' to their presence, and managed to calmly deal with the controversy. Isn't that a plus point for today's consultative style?

I agree there are instances where confrontation could provide a solution, but it should be weighted considerably to prevent any repercussions that may further contribute to a worsening of the situation as well as backfiring on Umno Youth.

Having said that, however, the current problems facing Umno is unconnected to Umno Youth. For years, the older generation Umno has made life difficult for the party, through questionable policy decisions and even more questionable business decisions. In fact, looking at the facts at hand; I am somewhat angered by the writer's blaming everything bad on Umno to the youth wing.

Let's open our eyes and take a reality check. The humongous bailouts of crony companies such as MAS and Time dotCom have nothing to do with Umno Youth. The problems of money politics and abuse of power have nothing to do with Umno Youth. It is high time somebody point that out to the elder leaders in Umno.

The difficulty in courting young Malays into Umno Youth is not due to weak leadership. Umno Youth has always maintained a steady flow of leaders to serve the party. One even went to the extent of being abused to start a fight at the highest level. It is the older generation Umno that is doing the most damage to the party, not the younger generation. How can you attract people to your party when all they see are perceived corruption and internal bickering at the higher and older level?

In fact, Hishammuddin had done well in maintaining law and order since the Anwar fiasco. Warring and dissenting factions have been courted and given a new purpose to carry on. He had managed to unite all Umno Youth members under one big push to ensure that the Malay agenda is carried on and preserved. If this is not a trait of a good leader, than nothing is.

The writer seems to miss the point when it comes to Umno Youth membership. One need not look further to realise that more and more professionals are joining the movement's ranks. And these professionals are not interested in confrontational attitudes towards any problem. They want a cleaner, more responsive and consultative party that allows them to mature into good leaders that would be able to lead the nation in future.

The writer should instead provide suggestions on how best can Umno Youth approach the public and what programmes it should immediately implement to stop the Malay decline. Whether he likes it or not, the writer realises he needs Umno Youth to be strong to enable the Malays to further their agendas. It is therefore better if he assists Umno Youth to achieve this aim.

On the other hand, the writer could go one step further and remind the older generation Umno that it is their very action that is choking the life out of its younger counterpart. The writer is barking up the wrong tree by laying all the blame for the party's troubles on the younger generation.

A strong Umno Youth would mean a strong young Malay generation. And strength nowadays is not calculated by the number of heads or by taking up arms. Resilience is built from the mind to the soul, and thus the need for rationality to keep the order of the day - and the younger generations' day it is, I might add.