IT was supposed to have been Umno’s 72nd birthday bash, two days after GE14, but the downcast looks and whispers in the cavernous hall at the party’s headquarters In Kuala Lumpur made it feel like a funeral wake.

The gloomy mood of Umno leaders and members signified how the former ruling party was still bleeding from its electoral wounds.

Its MPs and state legislators in Sabah were reportedly cutting deals that would see Umno disbanded in the Borneo state. There were also whispers that Perlis Umno lawmakers were talking about crossing over to Pakatan Harapan.

At the Tun Razak Hall 2, members milled about in small groups and tried to process their crippling defeat in its birthplace of Johor. None of the VIPs present gave their usual speeches.

The biggest question was not just how had it all happened, but also how and whether the party will recover from its historic defeat.

“Umno has never lost (federal) power. So now everyone must pull together and learn to be a real opposition party,” Selangor Umno member Baharin Mohd Tahir told a small group of members being interviewed by Malaysia Decides.

“There can be no more warlords. Everyone must be on the same level,” Baharin said loudly in an apparent message to his other party colleagues in the hall.

It is a well known fact that the party’s division chiefs, who are its middle managers, act like warlords. They dish out goodies to ordinary members in return for plum contracts from government-linked companies at the top leadership.

Over the years, this has nurtured a culture, generally called “money politics” where cash rules.

Friction between division chiefs and state and national leaders over candidates in Terengganu, Selangor and Johor caused members to cast protest votes against the party in GE14.

“We have to start again from zero and throw out all these leaders who stepped on ordinary members,” said Lembah Pantai Umno member Roslan Rasili.

Political scientist Tunku Mohar Tunku Mohd Mokhtar said unlike before, where Umno could count on the ministerial positions its leaders held, the party had to find its own funds.

“Its main strength is its network but somebody needs to rally them together again and boost their morale,” said Tunku Mohar of the International Islamic University.

Even if it does find the resources to rebuild, what was also critical was a shift in mindset. Umno needs to start seeing itself as party within a multi-party system rather than a party automatically entitled to be in the government.

“Umno is not new to being an opposition party, as it has played that role in several states,” said Prof Shamsul Amry Baharuddin of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

“But it has to play the long game and look to GE15 and GE16 and beyond, depending on how the Pakatan Harapan coalition can remain together,” he said. – May 14, 2018.