Umno leaders ticked off for keeping youth out
Koh Jun LinPublished: Nov 23, 2014 3:49 AM | Updated: Nov 23, 2014 5:22 AM
Umno president Najib Abdul Razak is irate over Umno leaders who block youths from joining the party, in a bid to secure their positions.
He said the youths, being the future of the country, should be engaged with and admitted into the party to help with the party’s rejuvenation.
Umno president Najib Abdul Razak is irate over Umno leaders who block youths from joining the party, in a bid to secure their positions.
He said the youths, being the future of the country, should be engaged with and admitted into the party to help with the party’s rejuvenation.
“Don’t make it such that if they fill up the (party membership application) forms, the form goes missing.
"They wait for months without a response. They appeal to the division but there is still no news.
“They appeal to (secretary-general) Tengku Adnan Mansor (left) at the headquarters, but by then a year has passed.
"Why? Because there are those who are afraid that they will fight for their position," lamented Najib today at the opening of the Federal Territories Umno convention at the Putra World Trade Centre.
“If Umno is a party that loves the youth, we must make way for them. Then Umno will be seen as a party that is modern, progressive, and dynamic, not a party that is weary,” he said.
Najib also warned that if Umno is not rejuvenated, it would suffer the fate of the Indian Congress Party, which fought for India’s 1947 independence but suffered its worst electoral performance this year.
He highlighted that amongst political parties that fought for independence, Umno is the only one that remains in power.
Youth engagement and participation is one of three issues that the prime minister highlighted as “reality checks” that Umno needed to grasp in order to win in urban seats.
Perception problem
Apart from that, he said urban voters are also better educated and expect their leaders to be intellectually capable as well.
As an example, he said although gardeners are important in some situations, as leaders they cannot be expected to be persuasive to better-educated voters.
He added that although Umno and BN are better than the opposition, it suffered from a perception problem.
This, he said, needs to be rectified through better use of social media, not to stifle it.
“We cannot close down Facebook. We cannot close down Twitter, because the world has changed.
“This is not the answer, the answer is not to stifle. The answer is that in this open and new environment, Umno must be the champion,” he said.
He said the youths, being the future of the country, should be engaged with and admitted into the party to help with the party’s rejuvenation.
“Don’t make it such that if they fill up the (party membership application) forms, the form goes missing.
"They wait for months without a response. They appeal to the division but there is still no news.
“They appeal to (secretary-general) Tengku Adnan Mansor (left) at the headquarters, but by then a year has passed."Why? Because there are those who are afraid that they will fight for their position," lamented Najib today at the opening of the Federal Territories Umno convention at the Putra World Trade Centre.
“If Umno is a party that loves the youth, we must make way for them. Then Umno will be seen as a party that is modern, progressive, and dynamic, not a party that is weary,” he said.
Najib also warned that if Umno is not rejuvenated, it would suffer the fate of the Indian Congress Party, which fought for India’s 1947 independence but suffered its worst electoral performance this year.
He highlighted that amongst political parties that fought for independence, Umno is the only one that remains in power.
Youth engagement and participation is one of three issues that the prime minister highlighted as “reality checks” that Umno needed to grasp in order to win in urban seats.
Perception problem
Apart from that, he said urban voters are also better educated and expect their leaders to be intellectually capable as well.
As an example, he said although gardeners are important in some situations, as leaders they cannot be expected to be persuasive to better-educated voters.
He added that although Umno and BN are better than the opposition, it suffered from a perception problem.
This, he said, needs to be rectified through better use of social media, not to stifle it.
“We cannot close down Facebook. We cannot close down Twitter, because the world has changed.
“This is not the answer, the answer is not to stifle. The answer is that in this open and new environment, Umno must be the champion,” he said.
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