AUTONOMY for Sabah Umno is crucial as the party needs to do to something drastic to stop the grassroots from becoming disenchanted following the mass exodus of leaders in December, said Sabah political analysts.

They said the once-powerful party has now fallen to its weakest since the general election last year, and giving them the autonomy to run their own show can boost their image and strength.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah political science don Lee Kuok Tiung said that since losing power, the party had suffered a massive fallout of its top leaders, which is now beginning to affect the grassroots.

“It is very important for them to do things their own way now. This is why autonomy is important for the party.

“A lot of things need to be tackled by the Sabah Umno leaders at present,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Sabah Umno is trying to rebrand itself after losing most of its elected reps, including its state chief Hajiji Mohd Noor when they quit the party to become Pakatan Harapan-friendly independents.

The state chapter now has a new chief in the form of veteran Member of Parliament Bung Moktar Radin, whose main concern right now is to clean the party membership list and regroup to remain relevant in Sabah.

Bung is confident that Sabah Umno can rebuild itself on the strength of its members – still being the largest in the country – and by getting its autonomy status to remain independent of the party headquarters in Peninsular Malaysia.

According to Bung, autonomy for the state Umno means its top leaders no longer refer all its decisions to the Umno Supreme Council members, and that includes carrying out its own political agendas, organise its own conferences, select its own committee members, select its poll candidates, as well as path its own direction.

Lee also pointed out that one of the weaknesses in the old regime of allowing central parties to make decisions for the state would be resolved with more autonomy.

“We must be clear that Sabah Umno is different from the Peninsular Malaysian chapters. Here in Sabah, the party comprises Muslims and non-Muslims.

“It’s always crucial to have autonomy for Sabah Umno leaders and allow them the space to do things according to the Sabah way.

“The party cannot just copy and paste what their peninsula counterparts are doing,” he said.

For example, he said, there are many issues raised by the previous Umno national leaders that did not have anything to do with or impact Sabah and Sarawak, such as racial and religious problems in Peninsular Malaysia.

Senior Sabah political observer Mohd Faizizi Maidin said autonomy for Sabah Umno will boost morale of the party members and image of the party.

“They could still attract people to join the party. The new chief must also balance the party leadership line-up with the young and old, and the same formula should be applied when going into the polls in GE15,” he said.

Faizizi said Bung’s only worry now was that he has to work with an inexperienced team.

He said the only backing for Bung could come from Sungai Sibuga Musa Aman and former Kota Belud MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan, but both men appeared to have gone silent after the last general election.

“They need to become risk takers with the autonomy – fight for the state rights the way Warisan did when they were in the opposition.

“This way, they could still appeal to the Sabah voters and win new members,” he said. – February 1, 2019.