Nur Jazlan: Stick to status quo, don't hand Umno to cowards

Former Pulai MP Nur Jazlan Mohamed has urged Umno members not to press for a contest for the party’s top posts, saying it would only lead to a split in the already weakened party and leave it in the hands of cowards.

“Why do we want to have a competition for the two main positions if it will only lead to division and threaten unity at a time when Umno is in the recovery process after GE15 (15th general election)?

“Because if we highlight the history of Umno through its 70 years -Tunku Abdul Rahman vs Ahmad Fuad Hassan (1951); Hussein Onn vs Sulaiman Palestine (1978); Dr Mahathir Mohamad vs Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (1987), and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi vs four challengers (2018) - we can see that every time there is a contest for the position of president there is definitely a split in Umno.

“Ahmad Fuad left Umno and formed PAS after losing to Tunku. Similarly, Sulaiman Palestine left the party after losing to Hussein Onn. While Ku Li became the biggest cause of division in Umno when he created Parti Semangat 46 and took out many leaders and party members with him because he was disappointed to lose to Mahathir in 1987. 

“While in 2018, after losing, even though Khairy Jamaluddin did not leave Umno, he stayed away from the mainstream of the party and did his own thing,” claimed Nur Jazlan (above) in a Facebook post.

Zahid recently announced that the party’s internal polls may be brought forward and be held before May - when the six-month period after GE15 is up.

Last year, the Registrar of Societies (ROS) approved Umno’s application to amend its constitution to postpone its party election up to six months after GE15.

Support Zahid or risk another split

Nur Jazlan is a former deputy home minister who served as Pulai MP from 2004 to 2018 before losing twice to Amanah’s Salahuddin Ayub.

He urged party members to continue to support Zahid who is currently on trial for corruption and just led the party to its poorest showing in the GE15.

“Are we willing to see Umno split again and have factions or teams like 40 years ago? Umno has split many times starting with the existence of PAS, Semangat 46, PKR, and Bersatu.

“Umno cannot afford to accept a big split again because if we split again, then Umno’s lifespan will not be long,” he said.

Nur Jazlan notably did not name names when it came to the “cowards” he was referring to, but the likes of Hishammuddin Hussein and Khairy have been touted as possible contenders.

“If we want to make it a competition, who do we want as the new president? The cowards who were the first to run across the border after Umno lost in GE14? Do we want to depend on people who failed to become the ninth prime minister?

“Do we want to hand over the fate of the party to people who are busy being brokers who have been trying to sell Umno’s dignity to opposing parties?” he said.

He also seemed to target Khairy when he referred to an individual who was seeking to replace Zahid but ended up losing in a liberal state, a possible reference to Khairy’s loss in Sungai Buloh, Selangor.

Nur Jazlan refused to lay the blame for Umno’s decline at the door of jailed ex-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, saying the main cause of Umno’s weakness and defeat in 2018 was two individuals - Mahathir and current Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

“They were previously at odds but then conspired to bring down BN. In the end, Anwar was able to become PM and Umno became a victim with only 30 parliamentary seats left.

“However, the combination of the BN and Harapan governments certainly hurt Mahathir’s heart but Umno members must accept that this new combination is what the majority of people want even if it is not what the majority of members want,” he said.

Father’s idea to avoid contests

He said that the proposal for the position of party president and deputy president to be uncontested was initiated in 1996 by the state Umno division led by his late father, former information minister Mohamed Rahmat who was Umno secretary-general at the time.

He said Zahid who was elected president of Umno in 2018 managed to restore the party to the government after the fall of Harapan in 2020. 

“Despite facing various challenges after Mahathir’s attempt to ban Umno, political prosecution, and character assassination by the opposition, the party regained the trust of the people by winning seven out of 12 by-elections and successfully recaptured Malacca and Johor from Harapan.

“Don’t use the reason that Umno didn’t win big in GE15 as an excuse to change the president and deputy because the last defeat does not belong to Zahid and deputy president Mohamad Hasan alone but must be borne by everyone,” said Nur Jazlan.

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