TENGKU Razaleigh Tengku Hamzah believes that Umno should remain a Malay party, disagreeing with suggestions that its membership be opened to other races.

The veteran Umno leader said there is strong sentiment on the ground that the party keep its Malay identity politics.

“We can add one or two non-Malays as members, like some parties have done, and label it as multiracial.

“But the face is still not multiracial. I can say I’m multiracial because I used to have a non-Malay wife, but I’m not multiracial in that sense,” he told a press conference attended by selected media in Kuala Lumpur today.

The presser was called after sections of the lynchpin Barisan Nasional party asked him to contest the position of president in the upcoming party polls.

The former finance minister said the issue facing Umno now is not about whether to open its membership to other races, as the party was born a Malay one.

“It was born like that. Umno was formed by a gathering of Malay organisations in 1946 because of the threat to the sovereignty of the country.”

He said given this, Umno should remain that way.

The late Umno founder Onn Jaafar left the party in 1951 when his call for its membership to be opened to all races was rejected by members.

“The proposal was not accepted, and it was untenable for him to continue. That’s why Tunku came in later,” said Tengku Razaleigh, referring to Onn’s successor in the party and Malaysia’s first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj.

Pahang Umno chief Adnan Yaakob is among the Umno leaders who have said the party should review its constitution so as to allow all races to apply for membership.

Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has said the party must be prepared to transform itself if it were to remain relevant, and one way would be to open its membership to non-Malays. – June 10, 2018.