YOURSAY | ‘Umno itself is struggling to keep its nose above water.’

Umno Youth to hold special convention on whether to stay in Madani govt

Vulcan King2: Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh has openly challenged Deputy Prime Minister and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the party’s top leadership by calling a Umno Youth meeting to push for withdrawal from the Madani government.

He is showing Umno that he believes he is more powerful than all the senior leaders.

It is time for the president and senior leaders to rein him in, put him in his place or ask him to quit or be sacked.

If he is a man, resign. I bet this coward will only talk and will not resign.

Mazhilamania: Who exactly is the leadership of Umno today? Why is Akmal playing a role far bigger than his shoes?

Have Umno’s senior leaders identified - or even acknowledged - the reasons, the timing, and the actors that triggered the distancing and rejection by the Malay community?

The small crowd seen at former premier Najib Abdul Razak’s recent court appearance (1MDB case) is proof that many Malaysians are beginning to accept his fate. The nation has accepted his destiny. Pulling Umno out of the Madani government is not the answer.

Umno Youth must be brave enough to pursue cleansing reforms by outrightly rejecting the party’s warlord culture and money-enrichment weaknesses.

Bring in clean, capable, academically qualified professionals. Umno must project itself as a non-racist party.

Vijay47: Sometimes the Malacca representative (Akmal) outdoes himself to such an extent that I feel compelled to voice my contempt.

He wants Umno to withdraw from the Madani government because a DAP member refuses to apologise for a statement she made? This surely takes the cake.

Former energy, science, technology, environment and climate change minister Yeo Bee Yin made a light-hearted but accurate remark that many Malaysians welcomed - because Najib was finally getting his just desserts.

Who are you, Malacca representative, to make demands of others? Heal thyself first. Withdraw? Are you serious - over an accurate statement? How lightly you regard the stability of a government when Umno itself is struggling to keep its nose above water.

By the way, neither you nor your wayward youth wing has commented on Friday’s verdict by High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah. Have you abandoned the “Malu Apa, Bossku” mantra? Umno and its youth wing are clearly cut from the same cloth.

Robbie98: What does it take for Umno leaders to comprehend the enormity of the 1MDB scandal? It was rightly described by the United States attorney-general as the biggest act of corruption ever witnessed. The losses will be borne by Malaysians for many years.

This was perpetrated by a once-respected Umno leader. This is not the old Malaysia. News travels instantly via mobile phones and social media. Umno’s older supporters have evolved - they see corruption, and they have other voting options.

RM100, a bag of rice and cooking oil no longer cut it when voters see the ultra-luxurious lives of the privileged and the eye-popping sums stolen from the national treasury. Race and religion as bogeymen have limits.

Yes, Umno needs a reset. Do it wisely, and you might survive. Continue blindfolded, and your final chapter will close - fulfilling the wishes of your venerated former leaders to see the end of Umno.

Apanama is back: Zahid will stay put in Madani. Saving his own skin is vital. This “convention” is merely a two-minute fame stunt.

Umno Baru will become the third fiddle in Perikatan Nasional and cannot survive alone as BN, with MIC and MCA effectively gone. Even the recent Sabah election saw BN lose eight seats.

In Madani, Umno is better off; coalition partners stay silent. In PN, PAS and Bersatu would keep them in check.

Umno Baru has not changed - only its rhetoric. Arrogance has grown since 2008, the beginning of its decline. It will worsen in GE16 and the upcoming state elections.

Malay voters are fed up. They have many choices beyond Umno Baru and PKR.

Whoever forms the government, bantuan (aid) will still come. Many Malays are aware that this Umno Youth head’s act is sandiwara - acah acah (drama - playful). It is backfiring, though he does not realise it.

Cynic: In the aftermath of your silent, seething yet impotent furore on your beloved leader's rout on Boxing Day, you have called for a convention to reassess your uncertain future in the Madani government.

I do hope you would sincerely reflect on, introspect upon and ponder deeply on all your failures these past six decades, not only as elected leaders but as decent human beings.

So appalling is your blind love for a criminal and so horrendous are your shenanigans in your pursuit of supremacy over the rest of the Malaysian demography that the words “decent human beings” put Umno out of the equation.

Now that your supreme leader has been dethroned and laid bare as to what he really is, you have a right to be apprehensive about the fate of other warlords whose credibility would be called into question by the rakyat.

Yes, have your convention, but choose your words and your next move with extreme caution. We are watching.

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