PUTTING on a brave face despite losing their birthplace, Johor Umno leaders said they are strong and united despite facing pressure from rival Bersatu, which is wooing members after their May 9 electoral defeat. 

“We are still going strong in Johor. We continue to work hard for the grassroots, just like how we were during the Barisan Nasional administration,” Johor Umno secretary Samsol Bari Jamali told The Malaysian Insight.

“We are now continuing with party works on the ground so that Umno will continue to be seen as a party that works for the people.”

The Semarang assemblyman added that the difference now was that Umno’s programmes were much more smaller in scale but it is still leaving an impact on the people.

“We continue to deliver what we can. Our approach now is to have low-cost programmes but with bigger impact.”

Barisan Nasional holds 14 out of the 56 state seats on Johor, a far cry from when it used to control the state assembly. After GE14, three of its assemblymen also defected to Bersatu.

Umno, despite being the opposition now, was still relevant to the people, especially in rural areas, he said.

“We still have our branches in rural areas and in villages. We conduct Maulidur Rasul programmes at the ground level. Other parties don’t do this. We maintain our service centres as before.

“We participate in religious events and we are still with the community. We don’t talk about funds and allocations to them. They realise that that is the responsibility of the government,” he said, adding that Umno was also reaching out to non-Malays.

Samsol also spoke about the threat by Bersatu, which has been pinching its members to increase its own numbers.

Earlier yesterday, Umno secretary-general Annuar Musa also spoke on the same issue. Annuar said he was having a tough time keeping MPs and assemblymen in Umno as many are being courted by outsiders.

“Our MPs are often proposed. I continuously receive information about people approaching our MPs and assemblymen, and some of them (Umno members) have already made up their minds to cross over.

“I’m having a tough time as secretary-general keeping everybody together,” Annuar said.

The remarks came following Guar Chempedak assemblyman Ku Abdul Rahman Ku Ismail’s decision to quit the party to become an independent in the Kedah legislative assembly.

Samsol, however, said Johor Umno was steadfast in facing this threat.

“None of our branches has closed. We have 476,000 members in Johor, 2,335 divisions, of which 93.8% had conducted their annual meetings in time for the party’s recent annual assembly. This shows we are still active.

“We are a party with proper structure. No one else is like us.”

An Umno Youth leader from the Labis division, meanwhile, said it was difficult for Bersatu to entice senior Umno members but could succeed with younger members.

“In my village, there are no Bersatu branches. That party’s events are also conducted by youngsters. The older generation will not join Bersatu. They will remain with Umno no matter what.

“On top of that, Umno is also not standing still. We are moving forward with our programmes, going one division at a time,” he said while wishing to remain anonymous.

Another Umno division leader, who wanted to be known only as Said, said Bersatu was trying hard to get Umno members to defect but without much success. – November 13, 2018.