UMNO will survive the next general election and emerge as a force if the party thinks through its strategies properly and offers a good manifesto for the people to consider, said Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. 

The Umno veteran, who is better known as Ku Li, said the party has a chance to pull through as the other political parties are in a state of disarray at the moment.

“All parties are in disarray and Umno is also split. They (Umno) may have formed factions among themselves, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to weaken support for the party going into the general election. 

“I think we could come back together and move as a force depending on the strategy we deploy (in GE15),” he told The Malaysian Insight. 

In the last election, Umno won 54 parliamentary seats.

However, its ranks in the 222-member lower chamber depleted when 15 of its lawmakers moved to splinter party Bersatu, leaving it with 39 Members of Parliament.

Ku Li, as he is popularly known, said that all political parties are in disarray because they are split up, directionless and (lacking) leadership. 

“The people are crying for proper direction. Even the Covid-19 pandemic is not well tackled,” he said.

The Gua Musang lawmaker expressed confidence that the Umno vote bank was intact and the current political situation in the country had not fractured it.

“We will work to persuade them to remain with us and we will bring in new voters. 

“We want to ensure that those 18 years and above will come in droves to support us. 

“We want to ensure the future for the young and we want them to participate in this election,” he said with an eye on the 18-year-olds who may vote in the coming general election.

Though the Election Commission (EC) had said it was not possible to implement Undi18 immediately, political parties have since the announcement applied pressure on the EC to find ways to speed up its implementation.

Putrajaya’s bid in 2019 to amend the federal constitution to lower the voting age to 18 was met with resounding success with unanimous backing from the opposition bloc and government backbenchers.

The bill, which also includes automatic voter registration and allowing 18-year-olds to contest in elections, created history for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration when it was in power as it was the first successful constitutional amendment that received support from both sides of the political divide.

Ku Li said moving forward, a new manifesto needs to be presented to the voters and it must be attractive to the young.

“We want to give a lot of opportunities to the young candidates, young women candidates to come to the forefront. 

“There is every chance we may do well in GE15.”

After ruling for more than 60 years, BN was defeated by PH in the 2018 general election. 

Ku Li said that he is very confident with the young people, their skills and knowledge, which is always evolving. 

“It is most enlightening to see that this generation is much better than my generation and they are prepared to move forward more aggressively. 

“There are so many young people who are able to move forward and take leadership of the party.”

Ku Li believes that youths have more ideas and would be able to blend in with the new generation (of leaders). 

“The youths have new ways of looking at things. It’s about time these young people take over.” – April 11, 2021.