COMMENT | Still reeling from its humiliating defeat at the hands of voters last month, Umno, formed by some of Malaysia's founding fathers, and which held the major share of federal power for over six decades, now finds itself facing the test of another vote – its internal party polls.

This double dose of election fear has led to varying degrees of soul searching, from its irate grassroots who have felt let down and ignored by their leaders, to its top echelon with more still left to lose.

In the days following the 14th general election defeat, many have acquired, it would seem, supernatural powers of hindsight – to them, it is now suddenly obvious where the party had gone wrong and who was to blame.

Many others have called for self-reflection and the need to either strip the party of excesses and focus on its core purpose of old – to be the bastion for Malay rights in the country – or restructure its very DNA and open it up to all races, becoming 'United Malaysians' instead of just 'United Malays'.

Several party veterans, too, have found that the battle scars from the general election ran too deep and opted out of contesting altogether, to make way for a new generation of leaders.

But there remain some who appear determined not to change, chief among them, at-large Sungai Besar Umno division chief Jamal Md Yunos.

Despite being on the run from authorities after fleeing from the hospital in the midst of bail proceedings for a criminal charge last month, Jamal has declared that he will run, this time for the post of party youth chief...