Do away with party's disciplinary board

Umno top leaders took heavy attacks from party members today when delegates participating in the debate on the presidential speech boisterously expressed their unhappiness over decisions made by the leaders.

One key topic delegates touched on was on money politics where many thought the decision by the party leadership to heavily publicise its effort to curb such practices through the media as unwise.

Most of them feel that the party should deal with the issue quietly without telling the entire world about it.

A delegate from Penang went as far as calling for the dissolution of the party's disciplinary board as the action taken against some leaders convicted of money politics had caused internal strife.

"You take action against one (leader) but free others (implicated in money politics)," said Musa Sheikh Fadzir, who came as a substitute for Bukit Mertajam Umno division chief Ahmad Ismail (left) who was suspended for three years for describing the Chinese community as "squatters"..

However, as in the past, this 59th Umno general assembly was no different as the leaders, apparently familiar with all this, appeared unfazed by the shelling from delegates.

Other topics debated were the need to reform the party and restore public confidence, strengthening Malay economic status and preserve Malay's special position in the country.

Below are some quotes taken from the presidential speech debate delivered by three delegates:

Musa Sheikh Fadzir, Bukit Mertajam, Penang

Umno is still strong. Malays still love us. The Malays know that they have survived so far because of us. Who have been defending the Malays, if not us.

When others question our religion, our special rights, who defends the Malays? Us, Umno. But when we try to defend ourselves, our leader gets a three-year suspension (referring to Ahmad Ismail)

People always say don't play money politics. But this is a political organisation. If we don't have money, how are we supposed to come to this AGM in Kuala Lumpur?

The Northern Corridor Economic Region is meant to help the Malays. But it has been two years now, what have we got from it? Nothing.

When we speak of cleansing the party of money politics, there is no need to tell the media, tell the whole world. We can just do it internally.

Najib, before you revise the federal constitution, you should disband the party's disciplinary board.

Ismail Kasim, Arau, Perlis

The setback we suffered in the last general election was caused by us Umno members because many protested against the candidates who were not chosen by the people. Pakatan had qualified candidates, while we did not.

When they won in a general election, many of them changed their lifestyles with bigger cars and houses. They suddenly became arrogant and many people felt disheartened and sidelined.

Let us also look at the children of Umno leaders overseas. We shouldn't let them lead a wild life because this will tarnish our image as Umno leaders. These children live in a classy environment and isolate their friends. This is why their friends have a negative perception of Umno and its leaders."

When it comes to teaching maths and science in English, the minister of education said it's for the best. I don't konn, maybe it is.

But based on a study I did, many nationalists, educationists and academicians rejected this idea because they think it is not beneficial to the Malays. Why would we want to defend something that does not benefit Malays?

Talking about the issue of monopoly, everything is monopolised in this country, from flour to even buses. People have been saying we are doing this to protect our own interest and Pakatan picks this up to attack us. But I will not blame them, because we have given them ammunition to do so.

Hasnoor Sidang Hussin, Bukit Katil, Malacca

The problem of money politics looks so bad because Umno wants to reveal it to the whole world.

As a result of Umno's openness, the problems are revealed to all and this contributes to the party's decline.

Next time, we should just resolve such matters within the party and not disclose to those outside.

He also questioned the action taken by the disciplinary committee in suspending a Penang Umno division leader when he called non-Malays "pendatang".

Similarly, when I questioned the social contract and called on the classification of second class citizens on non-Malays, people like Lim Kit Siang lodged police reports against me.

However, when they say something seditious no action is taken against them. Where is the fairness and where is the political power that we have. Even today our actions are always being questioned and we cannot even raise and hoist the keris in the air.