YOUTHFUL charisma and fresh ideas may appear to give Khairy Jamaluddin’s the edge in the contest to become the Umno president.

But in reality, young Umno grassroots members and activists believe his 81-year-old rival Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has the credentials to save the party after its dismal showing in GE14.

They feel that Razaleigh, the Gua Musang MP affectionately known as Ku Li, can bring both experience and a clean record – a combination that will burnish the party’s public image.

Other Umno members told The Malaysian Insight it was too early to tell who among the three heavyweights running for president had the bigger support base to win in the June 30 party elections. 

Each has his strengths and what message they were offering members in the next 13 days will determine how much traction they received from the Umno ground.

Khairy and Razaleigh will be running against interim party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in a party election that will determine whether Umno can rebuild in the post-GE14 political landscape

Four other relatively unknown individuals have also thrown their hats in the ring but for now, Khairy, Razaleigh and Zahid dominate the race.

“Even though I am a young person, I feel Ku Li is more experienced in solving the party’s problems,” said Mohd Nizham Abdullah Hamidi, an Umno Youth official from the Batu division.

Nizam believes the upper echelons need young leaders but the top post should go to a person with a deep track record.

Umno member Iqbal Ismail said the ability to organise and strategise was a more important factor than age.

“The clear choice for me is Tengku Razaleigh,” said Iqbal.

One of Khairy’s failures, Iqbal said, was that he did not deliver the youth vote for Umno and the Barisan Nasional coalition.

“Khairy failed to get the youth vote so it is clear he has failed as youth chief.”

Umno only won 54 parliamentary seats in GE14, down from the 87 it held after GE13. The BN only garnered a total of 79 seats in the Dewan Rakyat.

For Haryaty Hamdzah of Puteri Umno, her choice of president has to have both experience and a clean image.

“We need more than just popularity with the youth. We need to repair our public image and we need someone with the stature to take on Pakatan Harapan,” said the Kota Melaka division member.

Haryaty refused to name her choice. But other Umno members have in the past used these two traits – experience and clean image – to refer to Razaleigh.

For now, Razaleigh and Khairy seem to have captured the stage.

Though he was once widely popular in the party, sentiment towards Zahid soured after Umno’s defeat in GE14. The former Home Minister has been tainted by his loyalty to former president Najib Razak. Najib’s scandals were a big factor in Umno’s GE14 loss.

Credibility will be the biggest factor for victory said Selangor Umno deputy chief Mat Nadzari Ahmad Dahlan, but added that it was still too early to see who the majority of members are leaning to.

About 130,000 delegates in 191 divisions will vote for the posts of president, deputy and the rest of the supreme council. These 130,000 delegates represent the collective voice of about three million Umno members.   

“Each candidate has not revealed what his points are”, said Mat Nadzari.

Temerloh Umno division chief Mohd Sharkar Shamsudin said it was too early to rule out any of the three from the race.

“Zahid still has advantage as he is the incumbent,” said Sharkar referring to the fact that the former minister was essentially performing the duties of president after Najib resigned.

“There are 13 more days to campaign. We don’t know whether the seven candidates will all make it. Some may pull out mid race and then you only have three heavy weights.

“They each have their strengths. And another may pull out and we are left with two. You never know we could even have one guy winning uncontested.”  – June 19, 2018.