DESPITE claiming to be confident of going into the election, Umno has yet to make any progress since parliament was dissolved earlier this month, DAP’s Liew Chin Tong said. 

The former senator said that Umno was stuck due to its internal rife as well as the realisation that voters may have been put off by the government’s decision to call for snap polls during the monsoon season. 

Liew said the other reasons for Umno’s failure to move forward were the party’s lack of funds, perception of instability, and public fear of Ahmad Zahid Hamidi becoming the next prime minister. 

“While some analysts think Umno could regain support, there seems to be no serious evidence to back it up. In fact, since the dissolution of parliament on October 10, Umno-Barisan Nasional has not gained an inch of new ground. 

“The idea that Umno pushed for snap polls for their own interests, despite the warning of floods, is now very ingrained in the minds of the voters. Clearly, voters don’t like what Umno is doing. 

“If Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s faction has some funds but with no guarantee of becoming prime minister again, they are unlikely to spend much. 

“Plus Umno has been the source of instability. It brought down both Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional government causing unhapiness among Malaysians,” said the former deputy defence minister. 

The federal government and Pakatan Harapan (PH) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for political stability and transformation last year with Ismail then saying the MoU would form a stronger bipartisan approach to politics. 

He also offered the opposition seven parliamentary and governance reforms, which included limiting the tenure of the prime minister to 10 years and the tabling of an anti-party hopping bill. 

The MoU ended a year later in September and Zahid has since been pushing for the 15th general election despite strong protests from within the Cabinet, civil society groups, and the Opposition. 

Liew said Umno is now split into two factions - the court cluster and the minister cluster. 

The court cluster refers to Umno leaders, including party president Zahid, who are either on trial or have been convicted for graft, among others. 

The minister cluster refers to Umno MPs who are part of Ismail’s Cabinet. 

“Zahid had openly announced his intention to nominate 70% new faces. Some of today’s Umno divisional leaders were youth chiefs when Najib Razak was elected youth chief in 1987. They provided the loyalty Najib craves for. 

“It would be extremely difficult for Zahid to remove old faces and field 70% new faces in GE15 without sabotages, boycotts, and upheavals, which will in turn affect Umno’s performance in the general elections,” Liew said. 

He said he has yet to meet a Malaysian who thinks that Zahid would be a good prime minister as many fear the Bagan Datuk MP making a comeback as PM. 

“Zahid’s recent remarks at the MIC annual general meeting which exposed his true intention of calling for GE15 during flood season merely to save Barisan Nasional leaders from corruption charges has not helped Umno’s cause at all. “With Zahid as the face of Umno, many Malaysians are worried,” he added. 

On October 10, Ismail announced the dissolution of parliament. Malaysians will now go to the polls on November 19 in the country’s 15th general election. The nomination date has been set for November 5 and early voting, November 15. 

The general election involves 222 parliamentary seats, 59 Perak state seats, Pahang (42) and Perlis (15). – October 24, 2022.