Umno more democratic than parties A, B and C, says Najib

In his 2011 policy speech that highlights various important points in the nation’s and Umno’s history, party president Najib Abdul Razak attacks the opposition, saying it is not democratic.

Compared with Umno, which allows a larger number of delegates to elect its leaders directly, the opposition is not democratic, Najib claimed.

“We allow many people in Umno to choose their leaders and Umno is not a party that is afraid of democracy, compared with our competitors,” he said.

“We are not like the opposition parties. In fact, Umno embraces democracy as in the English saying, ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating’.”

In six decades, Umno has continued to lead the country and the party has the records to prove it, Najib said.

“We have never dominated or intended to dominate other component parties,” he said.

“We are not a racist party, we work towards national development.”

Without mentioning any name, Najib referred the three Pakatan coalition parties as "party A, party B and party C" and said the de facto leader of "party A" (Anwar Ibrahim of PKR) is not elected democratically.

“Furthermore, in party A, the party president is the wife of the de-facto leader and their eldest daughter becomes the vice-president. As for the deputy president ... hmm ... we do not tell the story.”

Setting his sights on the DAP, which he referred as party B, Najib said the party says it is democratic in name, but it is not democratic.

“Is it democratic when only branch delegates choose 20 central committee members and then they in turn select the party leaders?

“Certainly, this is not representing the will of the members.”

On party C or PAS, Najib, who is also the prime minister, said it was fighting for a welfare state, but its position of mursyidul am (spiritual adviser) was not elected democratically.

“This person (mursyidul am) is more powerful than the president,” he said.

“Compared with Umno as the leading party, we work together with component party members, where we have to be pragmatic, realistic and sincere.

“We believe in each other and have relied on each other since Merdeka. This is how we work in building the country towards development,” Najib said.

‘We must be close to the people’

Whatever the challenges, Najib said the members must ensure that Umno wins.

“We must be close to the people. Umno must realise that in a democratic system, there is no place to come in second. We must be the champions,” he said.

He reminded the delegates that what the country has today was not built in a short span of time.

“It was built carefully, there were a lot of struggles and difficulties, as these were built by our forefathers, the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Iban, Kadazan and others, including the Orang Asli and Thais.

“This ambition is their dream, that is to ensure a better future for all of us. It is continuing with the present generation to ensure a brighter future for our children and grandchildren,” he said.

“Remember, all this is due to Umno, the party that has contributed to everyone, not only the Malays but to other races as well.”

Wouldn’t it hurt, he asked, if there were others who wanted to destroy Umno’s massive contributions?

“Do we want to erase this history? They claimed Umno has made no contributions to their lives.

“If that is the case, who is the one who buried the Malayan Union? Who had fought for independence peacefully, if not this party?” Najib asked.

‘We condemn those bent on rewriting history’

Najib said Umno also condemned those bent on rewriting history and undermining the contributions of the country’s heroes.

Although the Umno president did not name them, it is believed he was referring to PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, who questioned the role of Mat Indera in the Bukit Kepong incident.

Najib said as a responsible government that recognises their contribution, BN would not let the heroes’ names be smeared and would protect them.

“Their contributions are etched in the minds of every Malaysian,” he said.

The Umno president further lashed out at PAS’ claim to be fighting for a welfare state.

“I want to congratulate them for realising this concept. But they are 60 years late,” he quipped.

“Why are they suddenly interested in the welfare of the people. Prior to this, what is the purpose of their struggle?” he asked.

Are their aims, Najib asked, to split the Muslims?

“The reality in this initiative is a that the BN government had done this for the past six decades,” he said.

In attacking the opposition coalition Pakatan, Najib said they had not gained power, yet they want to remove half of the civil servants.

“What do they mean in wanting to oust more than 200,000 teachers? Who will teach our children? Not all are able to afford private education,” he said.

“As if that is not sufficient, they want to eliminate half the doctors and nurses whereas not all Malaysians can afford to seek treatment in private hospitals,” he said.

How about wanting to cut down the size of the police and army? Najib asked, adding who will then form the country’s defences and protect their families.

He warned that this is the fate that may befall the country if Umno loses its power.

“Who will preserve the sanctity of Islam? Who will protect the Malays and its agenda and who will protect the rulers?” he asked.

Najib wanted the people to take heed of the fall of the Malacca empire 500 years ago.

“It fell not because Malacca lacked warriors or due to poverty, it was overthrown because there was no unity and there were traitors,” he said.

“This also befell other empires like China, Rome, and even the Ottoman empire,” he said.


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