UMNO has a low key 63rd birthday celebration

By Zuraidah Abu Bakar(NST)

UMNO is a year older today. Yet its 63rd anniversary does not come with the usual pomp of the nation's grandest political party. Colourful and joyous events could well be history under the leadership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who prefers that Umno's over three million members instead observe the reality of the party's declining popularity and renew their commitment to its struggles.

Gone are the days when Umno spent millions of ringgit to celebrate its anniversary that lasted a whole month.

A party official said it once spent RM4 million on an extended birthday bash. "The party is more realistic now," he said.

Behind the low-key flag-raising, special prayers and a speech by the party president at the Putra World Trade Centre, Umno members have to acknowledge their duties in seeing that the party bounces back from the losses in the last general election.

They need to bolster unity so that Umno will remain the bedrock of Malay politics. It is also their responsibility to revive the selfless spirit of Umno's founding in 1946 -- a first step in charting a path to the future and remaking its image for the masses.

Umno is an old party. It cannot work the same way any more. New approaches are needed, especially in reaching out to young Malays now seeking comfort in the arms of Pas and Parti Keadilan Rakyat, both of which offer more alluring political ideals.

Where Malay support is concerned, however, all is not lost as Umno can still outrun Pas and PKR, whose ranks have been boosted by disgruntled Umno members, if it develops the strategies to counter and match its opponents.

In terms of parliamentary seats won in the last election, the two parties are far behind Umno's 79, a testimony to its continuing favour among the Malays.

Najib repeated loudly and clearly in Pekan yesterday that Umno could no longer rely on past achievement to woo young people, who will comprise the bulk of registered voters in the 13th general election.

The party president has cautioned, not once but many times, that changes were inevitable or "the people will change us".

The clobbering that Umno-Barisan Nasional received in the last general election made it realise, for the first time in more than 50 years in office, that it could lose power to the opposition.

For the first time, the prospect of defeat beckons in 2013, by which time the next general election will have to be called.

It cannot be politics as usual for Umno, and not even its most sanguine members can say that there is nothing wrong with the party.

Like all dominant political parties, Umno displayed an arrogance and apathy so glaring that voters rejected it in droves in the 2008 elections.

More than a year later, the demoralised and dispirited in Umno should have learned their lessons and thought of ways to rehabilitate, reform and reinvent the party. But few tangibles have been forthcoming.

New policies have been introduced by the government but the government is not Umno. As the mothership of Barisan Nasional, it has to steer the rest of the fleet on the right course before the next general election.

Preparations to amend the party constitution to revamp the internal election process, including doing away with minimum nominations to contest senior party posts and expanding the vote base, should be timed for completion before the Umno general assembly from Oct 13-16.

The proposed amendments should be discussed from the ground up, at the branch meetings from May 15 to June 30 and divisional meetings scheduled for a month from July 16.

Umno's imperative to "change or be changed", however, will not be accomplished if the party is fractured, especially in the states now under Pakatan Rakyat rule.

As long as the opposing factions remain at loggerheads, backstabbing and sabotaging each other, Umno will fall short of what it set out to do for the Malays.