Umno will continue to shoulder the responsibility of leading the Malays, the Bumiputeras, and all Malaysians down the road to success said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The Prime Minister, who is also the Umno president, said this because Umno's struggle is noble, sincere and pure, for the sake of the religion, race, and nation.

"The success achieved by the Malays and the Bumiputeras are due to Umno's struggle, especially the willingness of all members to shed blood and sweat, and to remain loyal to the party,” he said in his blog, najibrazak.com today, ahead of the 71st Umno General Assembly (UGA).

Najib said Umno was responsible for Malaysia gaining independence and leading the nation towards success and at 71-year-old, the nation could be considered new, young, still a youth.

"Alhamdulillah, despite this young age, we have achieved so much for the Malays, for the Bumiputeras, for Islam, and for Malaysia.

"Umno is a party who champions the people, loves this country, willing to sacrifice to the last drop of blood for Malaysia. Umno belongs to the people and the members, and not to certain individuals. "

Najib said since he led the country in 2009, various initiatives were implemented by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, including to upgrade the Bumiputera agenda as a national agenda.

"As a result, the gross monthly  income of Bumiputera household rose from RM3,624 in 2009, to RM6,267 last year, up by almost two-fold, while poverty declined from 5.3 percent in 2009, to 0.5 percent last year."

Najib said Umno would always ensure that the Malays and the Bumiputeras would continue to be competitive including in education, employment and asset ownership.

"All these were round-up in the Bumiputera Wellbeing Transformation launched earlier this year, which shows our achievements and future aspirations for the Malays and the Bumiputeras in Malaysia."

The Umno General Assembly 2017 (UGA 2017) will take place from Dec 5 to 9 at  Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) here. Some party 5,739 delegates are scheduled to attend.

- Bernama