UMNO should not be too excited over its recent hat-trick of by-election wins and be overconfident it will recapture federal power at the next general election, said Khairy Jamalauddin.

The Rembau MP said the by-election results cannot be a yardstick for the party’s performance at the 15th general election, which is a while away.

The former Umno Youth chief warned that Prime Minster Dr Mahathir Mohamad was a statesman and will have formidable strategies to counter the opposition.

“It will be some time before the 15th general election. Now he (Dr Mahathir) may not fulfil any promises and may save on allocation. 

“But when the general election approaches, he will probably dish out a lot of goodies for the people. That was what he did when he was Umno president,” Khairy told Kota Melaka Umno delegates while officiating at its meeting today.

Umno scored a hat-trick of by-election victories in the first half of the year, where it retained the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat and Rantau state seat, and captured the Semenyih state seat which it had lost to Pakatan Harapan’s pact member Bersatu.

According to Khairy, Dr Mahathir feels Umno and PAS are still a strong force and both Malay parties with their new-found alliance will be a threat to PH.

“This is why the prime minister recently talked about Malay unity. Dr Mahathir knows that the position of the Malays in the current government is weak,” he told the delegates.

Khairy said Umno must recover and its victory at the next polls must be brought about by genuine support from voters and not because they are angry with the PH government. 

“Victory brought about by hate will not last. We must win because people feel Umno has changed and returned to the right path,” he said. – July 21, 2019.