Despite former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's stinging criticism against Selangor Umno, its chief Noh Omar said the veteran statesman's concerns are already being addressed.

 

"We take his criticism positively, it's like an advise from father to son and surely we take note of his views and will implement them," he told a press conference after officiating the Selangor PPP convention in Ampang today.

 

For example, Noh said even though Mahathir complained that old leaders were unwilling to step down, more half of the Umno division in the states are already made up of new faces.

 

"In the last Selangor Umno election, half of the 22 divisons are new faces. There were 12 new faces and 10 old faces.

 

"So there is already a combination of old and new faces," he said.

Likewise, Noh said in terms of Mahathir's criticism that the party was unwilling to accept new members, efforts were already under way to attract fresh blood.

Race track to attract youths

 

"For example, yesterday, we held a motor racing event for the youths in Kuala Selangor and it attracted almost 2,000 people.

 

"We can use the race track to get in touch with the youths," he said.

 

Noh added that Selangor Umno also take cognisance of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's (below) advise, who had said he was ashamed for the state Umno and criticised it for being slow in action.

 

"We thank Mahathir and the Umno president for being frank... we will try to make changes but we will require cooperation from all quarters (Selangor BN)," he said.

 

Noh said Selangor voters are almost evenly split between Malays and non-Malays therefore BN component parties in Selangor must also buck up.

 

Mahathir in a stinging blog posting last Wednesday slammed Umno leaders in Selangor for clinging on to their positions and refusing to accept new blood which could threaten their status.

The Umno veteran also said that the perception in the state is that the party is corrupt.

In response, Selangor Umno secretary Johan Abdul Aziz said that lamenting that the state Umno has a "corrupt" image is disparaging to the party.