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Does Malaysia’s Umno have to ‘outdo’ rival PAS to regain the Malay vote?
- Malaysia’s grand old party is refreshing its ranks after Islamist PAS swept the November election in a ‘green wave’ to land a crushing defeat
- Umno now faces a dilemma: maintain a centrist position or pivot to conservatism and race-baiting to regain influence among Malay-Muslims
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When it came, the purge of Malaysia’s oldest party – the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) – was brutal and thorough, as embattled president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi cleaned out his senior ranks for political survival after a humiliating election defeat.
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A string of high-profile names were dumped from the party structure, including former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who was expelled for breaching party discipline by a leader seeking to squash internal critics who had got in the way of efforts to consolidate Umno after its first-ever defeat in the 2018 general election.
The show of strength appears to have worked and, according to observers and party insiders, Ahmad Zahid’s position is safe – for now.
Delegates at the party’s annual meeting in January voted to leave the presidency and deputy presidency uncontested in elections that run from February to mid-March.
The removal of the president’s opponents means there is no one left inside the party to go against the decision.
“He excised those potential challengers,” said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. “(And) he still enjoys widespread grassroots support within the party.”
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Umno has a history of booting out problematic leaders. Two-time prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, was sacked in the late 1960s after a falling-out with Malaysia’s first premier Tunku Abdul Rahman.
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