As Umno nurses its wounds from a colossal loss in the recently concluded 14th general election, the party should re-examine its structure to possibly open its membership to Malaysians of all races and religions, said its Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin (above).

"We should seriously consider all options. What model do we want? United Malays National Organisation or United Malaysian National Organisation? What is our DNA, what is our raison d'etre?

"These questions need to be asked. We should not be fixed in what model we take. Everything is on the table," Khairy was quoted saying in an interview with Singapore's Channel News Asia.

Khairy admitted that Umno/BN became "delusional, drunk on our own Kool-Aid and got carried away" before both the party and coalition were brought to its knees by a crushing defeat by Pakatan Harapan after a six-decade unbeatable run.

Khairy, who is also Rembau MP, acknowledged that the loss was a collective responsibility and said that both BN and Umno have to accept that they had been "systematically rejected" by the people.

BN should have first realised this after losing its parliamentary two-thirds majority in 2008 when Khairy's father-in-law and former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was in charge, he said.

"They thought that by changing the head, everything will sort itself out. We cannot make the same mistake again.

"It’s not just rejection of Najib but also a rejection of Umno and BN. A systemic rejection of what we stand for. If we can accept that, then we can start rebuilding this party."

According to Khairy, there are four things that Umno needs to do in the next one or two years to become a "credible opposition" to the Harapan government.

First, it has to ensure its numbers are preserved. Fifty-four out of 78 BN MPs in Parliament are from Umno.

Secondly, the party needs to defend itself from any attempt by the Harapan government to de-register it for failing to hold its party elections and thirdly, BN needs to learn to be a strong and credible opposition in the august house by providing checks and balances on the government.

The last step is working on structural changes to reflect the changing aspirations of the people, said Khairy.

Umno has recently announced that a task force has been set up to oversee the party's revamp.

Besides Umno, which is the anchor party in BN, other race-based component parties in the coalition such as MCA and MIC, for the Chinese and Indians, respectively, also faced near obliteration in last week's polls.

The parties' presidents' Liow Tiong Lai and Dr S Subramaniam lost in their respective parliamentary seats where they were the incumbents.

Liow has said he will not seek re-election in the party polls, while Subramaniam has announced he is retiring from politics to continue in the field of medicine.