Umno revival strategy remains a secret

Umno revival strategy remains a secret
10 June, 2008

by Pauline Puah, The Edge

Just before noon prayer last Friday, Umno president and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Razak emerged from a retreat and gave the slip to dozens of journalists who had been waiting for them for hours.

Other supreme council members, clad in uniform-like white shirt with an Umno logo, were also not forthcoming on what had transpired at the one-and-a-half-day gathering.

The retreat was held as a post-mortem cum strategic planning session after the party’s electoral setback on March 8.

Umno-led Barisan Nasional had lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament and five state administrations to the opposition front, now known as Pakatan Rakyat.

No press conference had been called since the unprecedented retreat kicked off on Thursday morning.

When the pow-wow adjourned on Thursday evening, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor told reporters that no press conference would be held.

“This is our strategy. How can I tell you?” said Tengku Adnan.

Former Selangor Umno chief and former menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohd Khir Toyo, when approached, also declined to make any comments.

“You can ask me on any other things but the retreat,” said the Selangor opposition leader.

Pressed further, Mohd Khir, who had openly called on Abdullah to outline a succession plan to allow Najib to take over the helm without delay, merely said: “Good (meeting). Very good.” The succession plan was in fact one of the key items on the agenda at the retreat, according to sources.

“They were seriously discussing the succession plan and that by convention his (Abdullah’s) deputy (Najib) will take over the helm,” said a source.

However, a supreme council member who spoke on condition of anonymity claimed that the brainstorming session did not discuss a succession plan.

“No. We did not discuss the succession plan. Our focus is how to make the party more relevant and how to win over the support of the people again,” he said without elaborating.

Umno vice-president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who had also asked Abdullah to set a timeframe to hand over power, was reluctant to comment about the outcome of the retreat.

“I have no authority to say anything,” he reportedly said.

Following Umno and BN’s dismal election results, Abdullah came under severe criticism by certain party leaders, particularly his predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has since left the party.

The premier has resisted the pressure to step down and reiterated that he would contest the party election and hand over the premiership to Najib before the end of his term.

Umno is slated to hold its branch elections from July 27 to Aug 23, division elections from Oct 9 to Nov 9 and elections at the central level from Dec 16 to 20.

Other issues believed to have been discussed at the retreat were the ways to make the Malay-based party more appealing to non-Malays and whether to accept former Parti Keadilan Rakyat Youth chief Ezam Mohd Nor’s application to return to Umno.

“We also discussed how to counter the allegations against Umno in blogs and websites. Youngsters like to hook up to the Internet to get information. So we must respond and correct the wrong information,” said the supreme council member.

A senior reporter, who is known to be close to some supreme council members, said his attempts to source for inside information proved futile.

“This time around, they were suspiciously silent about what had happened in the meeting,” he said.