Contests for top two posts will only hamper Umno's recovery post-GE15, says Nur Jazlan

JOHOR BARU: There is no need for the two top posts of Umno to be contested, says the party’s Johor deputy chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed (pic).

Nur Jazlan said contesting the president and deputy president's posts would only cause division among members and could threaten the party’s unity as it goes through the recovery process following the 15th General Election.

“It is better for us to focus on how we can strengthen the party and regain the people’s trust. Even if the presidency were to be contested, who will be the new president?

“Should we depend on the one who was the first to run away after Umno lost in GE14? Are we going to put the party’s fate in the hands of a person who has been busy as a broker, selling Umno’s dignity to rival parties?

“Are we going to choose someone who was rushing to replace the president while campaigning during GE15 but later lost in a liberal state?" he wrote on Facebook on Tuesday (Jan 3) without naming the individuals described.

Nur Jazlan said Umno’s defeat in GE15 should not be the reason for a change in its top posts.

“Umno's defeat should not be shouldered by Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan alone but by everyone in the party.

“It is better for us to learn from the failure and work to win the people’s hearts and respond to the attacks of our opponents. Be a loyal supporter of the party despite having to make sacrifices,” he said.

He also told party members not to be fooled by certain Umno MPs who contested on the party's ticket but later forsook the party.

“Looking back at Umno’s history over the past 70 years, there were only four times the presidency was contested – Tunku Abdul Rahman vs Ahmad Fuad Hassan in 1951, Tun Hussein Onn and Sulaiman Palestin in 1978, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed vs Tengku Razaleigh Tengku Hamzah in 1987 and Ahmad Zahid against several contenders (Razaleigh and Khairy Jamaluddin) in 2018.

“We can see that each time this happened, there was division in the party.

"Ahmad Fuad left Umno and founded PAS after losing to Tunku Abdul Rahman, Sulaiman Palestin also left the party after being defeated by Tun Hussein Onn.

"The biggest division was when Ku Li left the party and founded Semangat 46 with other members who were disappointed with Dr Mahathir,” he added.

He noted that although Khairy did not leave after losing the presidential contest in 2018, he appeared to have distanced himself from party matters.