UMNO is still heavily involved in the communal affairs of the people in its birthplace Johor despite losing power to splinter party Bersatu and ruling coalition Pakatan Harapan, said grassroots members.

They told The Malaysian Insight Umno is still a factor among Malays in kampung, particularly in matters of welfare and community affairs.

This was acknowledged by Johor Bersatu leaders as well, who said the “Umno culture” remains strong in the state.

Johor Bersatu secretary Mohd Solihan Badri said his party needs time to displace Umno at the grassroots level.

“It has become a culture for 60 years. It’s hard to change everything in over a year but we have our platform.

“We admit our people are new, inexperienced and are still learning.

“I was from Umno. I was active in the villages but some of our supporters felt they have been marginalised by the party,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Bersatu’s weakness in the state stems from the fact that it doesn’t have grassroots strength despite all its leaders are from Umno.

This fact was stressed by an Umno member from Taman Seri Kluang who said that although PH succeeded in taking over the state, the four component PH parties – Bersatu, Amanah, DAP and PKR – all lack grassroots strength.

“These parties don’t have the people. Their members are only a few.

“It is our people (Umno) who mobilise the villagers for various activities,” said the member who only wanted to be known as Roha.

“As far as I know, Umno people are still doing what they had done from the days when they were in the government.

“The people behind all the community activities are all old faces, the faces of Umno and BN (Barisan Nasional). Very few PH people are doing what we are doing,” said the 42-year-old.

Umno folk are also helping out even in the running of government programmes, such as health activities or educational programmes under Kemas, he said.

An Ayer Hitam Umno branch chief, who wanted be identified as Pak Uda, said since PH took over the administration of Johor, no welfare or social activities in his area would have been possible without the assistance of Umno members.

Pak Uda cites the recent Hari Raya Aidilfitri as an example.

He said for the first time, there was no financial assistance from the state government to the needy. Instead, it was Umno which provided the assistance.

“Usually, every time when Hari Raya comes, the government will provide assistance to the poor but this year there was nothing.

“Instead, it is the people from Umno who assisted the poor. We want to help but we cannot afford much as we are not in government any more.

“So the assistance provided was limited,” said Pak Uda, who administers the village surau.

Kluang Umno division deputy chief Md Norhalim Md Amin said because of a lack of qualified people from PH, Umno members have been appointed to fill administrative posts.

Norhalim said the job scope is apolitical and their appointments are to ensure smooth and uninterrupted administration of the communal work.

“Certain appointments are still retained by the old (Umno) people. Most of us have been in administration for a long time.

“They have the experience in the administration of surau and mosques. They are the ones who supported us and in gratitude, we assist them.

“We may have lost the administration of the state, but the humanitarian and social ties are still strong and we will continue to maintain that relationship,” he said.

PH also lacks people who know and have the experience to mobilise the community, he said.

That, he said, “forced” Umno members to help their community.

“We are in the opposition but are still doing welfare work. We appoint JKKK committee members, like in Kluang where PH has no grassroots support.

“That’s the reason our people have been retained (by the PH government) to administer our villages. We have no problem with that.”

Bersatu is the lead party in the Johor government with Dr Sahruddin Jamal as the menteri besar.

PH holds 39 seats in the 56 state assembly – DAP (14), Bersatu (11), Amanah (9) and PKR (5). On the other hand, the opposition BN has 17 seats – Umno 14, MIC (2) and PAS (1).

Bersatu has 26 divisions in Johor and is estimated to have about 400 branches. – August 7, 2019.