Buzz Sociopolitics Malaysia: Umnos uphill struggle: no new ideas and no good candidates

Umnos uphill struggle: no new ideas and no good candidates

Umno lacks distillate of brand brand brand brand brand new blood, brand brand brand brand brand new ideas, strategies
Little genuine change in reforms, associate companies get contracts
Umno public finessed Cowgate as well as income politics
Critics subject if Najib's intended reforms merely ersatz
Good possibilities sinister (Shahrizat) or unsuitable (Khairy)
PKR identical problems though attracts younger candidates
PAS the magnet for Muslims professionals; the little Malay members in DAP
New electorate as well as immature electorate the big factor in next election
Unfair chair distribution gives Umno pass to victory

Political scientist Johan Saravanamuthu's assessment of Umno as well as the current domestic landscape, in an essay for Aliran. Johan was professor of domestic scholarship during University Sains Malaysia, Penang. He as well as his wife Maznah now live in Singapore, where he is comparison research fellow during the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

Condensed from Can Umno re-invent itself? Aliran (17 December 2011)

The implicit subject which was prior to the United Malays National Organisati! on (Umno ) during the only concluded General Assembly was either this 3.4m clever domestic celebration could overcome the present crisis. The celebration has the ascending charge of recapturing the two-thirds majority in parliament, not to contend 4 state governments.

Many problems go on to trouble Umno as well as the celebration seemingly lacks the distillate of brand brand brand brand brand new blood, brand brand brand brand brand new ideas as well as strategies to understanding with the Opposition.

Moreover, income politics reared the ugly conduct nonetheless again when the women's wing leader, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, found herself inextricable in the multimillion-dollar "Cowgate" liaison of the RM250m soothing loan to the cattle-rearing association run by her father as well as children. At least the single Umno parliamentarian has called for Shahrizat to step down though the public managed to finesse the issue.

Adding to Prime Minister Najib Razak's problems was Malaysia's slippage for the third uninterrupted year from 4.5 to 4.3 points in the Corruption Perceptions Index. Many critics go on to subject if [Najib's] intended reforms have been merely ersatz. Najib has been forced to periodically repudiate which his policies start the Bumiputera policy.

If law be told, even with the implementation of the New Economic Model as well as supervision as well as economic transformation programmes, there has been little tangible change. Umno-favoured companies have continued to receive remunerative contracts, the egregious box being which of the mega RM36bn Mass Rapid Transit plan in the Klang Valley. The giant construction association MMC-Gamuda, linked to distinguished Umno-friendly tycoons, will be the categorical beneficiary.

Predictably, Najib's opening speech during the Umno Assembly was pitched during problems of the celebration in the face of an impending 13th ubiquitous election. The sound bites were of the celebration confronting the major watershed as well as the need to ove! rcome fa iled past practices. Najib identified 10 game-changing events as well as opined which the eleventh had to do with immature electorate as well as the brand brand brand brand brand new media.

The Prime Minister might in truth have put his finger upon the consequential election variable, the little 2.58m newly purebred i.e. immature electorate out of 16m authorised voters. The series of people who would actually opinion could be about 10m with 1.7m immature electorate constituting seventeen per cent of the electorate.

The Barisan Nasional (BN) lags at the back of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in voter registration, with the latter signing up twice as most brand brand brand brand brand new electorate during the first six months of 2010.

One of the major problems confronting Umno was carrying able candidates. Unfortunately good possibilities have been hard to come by as well as able leaders have been either sinister identical to Shahrizat or politically unsuitable identical to Khairy Jamaluddin.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has identical problems as well as saw the little of the leaders leave the celebration though has the value of attracting younger candidates. PKR's partners, the Islamic party, Pas, has additionally been the magnet for Muslims professionals as well as the Democratic Action celebration (DAP) has successfully recruited the little Malay members.

What Umno has starting for it is the actuality which electoral constituencies give an lavish weighting to rural seats, often in Umno building areas. Urban constituencies, with the accepted series of voters, authority less than 50 per cent of all seats. Sarawak as well as Sabah, which authority 56 parliamentary constituencies, make the dual states something of an word policy for the BN.

Could the participation of the large series of brand brand brand brand brand new electorate tip the scale divided from any large victory (or even for the loss) for Najib as well as his bloc partners? In these becoming different times, U! mno's ro le as Malaysia's ruling domestic celebration faces most formidable as well as formidable the little would disagree indomitable challenges.

READ FULL ARTICLE: Can Umno re-invent itself? (Aliran.com)