Umno reforming, but Bersatu picking up our 'bad habits' - Annuar
Umno splinter party Bersatu is picking up the "bad practices" the former is trying to discard, according to Annuar Musa.
"Now that they (Bersatu) are the party in power, the appetite has come back, you see.
"So I can see the culture in Bersatu is going to be very bad," the Umno secretary-general was quoted as saying in the Malay Mail.
Annuar cited as an example Bersatu vice-president Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman's call for contracts to be awarded to division leaders to cement the party's position.
Rashid's suggestion, made during Bersatu's annual general assembly last December, had received a standing ovation from the assembled delegates.
According to Annuar, Umno was attempting to rid itself of this "contract mentality," along with the perception that it was rife with money politics.
"For example, people perceive Umno as one that practises money politics, warlord politics, corruption.
“This, we must clean up,” he told the Malay Mail, adding that the process of total reform, following its electoral loss in last year's general election, will be long drawn out.
Annuar expressed his hope that internal Umno elections would help reform the party.
“One of the ways is the natural process of party election, and we hope the members choose leaders at different levels with a new set of values,” he said.
Today there are a lot of checks and balances in play. It is not that easy for Bersatu to repeat the mistakes of Umno. A statement by one leader does not mean that doors are easily open to the coffers of the nation. Every tender is now not negiotiated directly. There are enough loyal servants of the previous regime lurking in the civil service waiting to pounce on any irregularity. MACC is much more alive now than before it was under the old regime. Even the media have been told to be the eyes of the public and report of any criminal act. Not only that, but the public expects changes and they will not hesitate to speak or even furnish the public with reports of any wrongs committed by this govt. So for Bersatu to revert back to the so called good old days of plundering and raping the nation under Umno are over.
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