Umno doesn't need street demos to topple Harapan, says exco man
Umno does not need to use street demonstrations as a weapon to overthrow the Pakatan Harapan government," said Armand Azha Abu Hanifah.
The Umno supreme council member said the Umno-led opposition is more mature than when Harapan formed the opposition, an era which he said was full of protests and defamatory accusations against the BN government.
Umno does not need to use street demonstrations as a weapon to overthrow the Pakatan Harapan government," said Armand Azha Abu Hanifah.
The Umno supreme council member said the Umno-led opposition is more mature than when Harapan formed the opposition, an era which he said was full of protests and defamatory accusations against the BN government.
"We (Umno) have shown a change in attitude as a mature and professional opposition, one that does not act emotionally," he said.
"Whenever there are policies that don't benefit the people, we voice them through the proper channels instead of a demonstration.
"We recently held a gathering at the Putra World Trade Centre with tens of thousands of people and it was conducted with no problems, no chaos," he said, referring to the National Cooperation Charter signed on Sept 14 between Umno and former rivals PAS.
"We did not have to go down the road for a protest. This is the difference now that Umno and PAS are the opposition. Even during the anti-ICERD gathering (last year), we followed the rules without any disturbance and keep Dataran Merdeka clean," he told Malaysiakini.
Armand (above) was a former Umno Youth Exco leader who was on the frontlines when it came to demonstrations.
On Nov 1, 2016, he led 150 protesters who threw empty buckets and mineral bottles at the Selangor secretariat building in Shah Alam to protest water shortages in the state.
On July 26, 2017, Armand was also among the Umno Youth leaders engaged in a hostile confrontation with Bersatu's Armada members who attempted to deliver an invitation to then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak to attend the Nothing To Hide 2.0 forum.
Before being active in Umno Youth, Armand also served as Perkasa Youth Chief.
He claimed that the situation today was different.
"Then our actions were understandable as we were faced with Harapan provocations against the party's image and dignity," he said.
Meanwhile, when asked about the achievements of Umno Youth under the leadership of Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, Armand said the party's wings had succeeded in attracting young people from various segments of society.
He said what was more exciting was that Umno Youth had succeeded in establishing Squad Sabil, a uniformed volunteers corps to carry out welfare programmes nationwide.
