The Malaysian Insight

UMNO suffered heavy losses in the 14th general election (GE14) because party leaders thought they were invincible, said former second finance minister Johari Abdul Ghani.

“We thought that voters would accept whatever we did even when what we did was wrong.

“We were not transparent, open and had come to fear facing voters and their issues directly,” Johari told The Malaysian Insight.

He said that when a party has lost its integrity and credibility, it would inevitably lose the support of voters.

“The voters saw that we did not seem to care whether we were right or wrong. That’s why they punished us,” said Johari, who lost the Titiwangsa seat to newcomer Rina Harun from Bersatu in last month’s elections.

He said that Umno had taken the voters’ grouses for granted.

“When they complained, we brushed it aside too quickly,” said Johari.

The Titiwangsa division chief is among seven candidates vying for one of the three vice-presidents’ slots in Umno’s party polls today.

The other candidates include Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Mohamed Khaled Nordin, Sheikh Razali Sheikh Hamad, Mahadzir Khalid, Tajuddin Abdul Rahman and Ahmad Said.

In the run-up to the party’s elections today, candidates and leaders have begun to speak more openly about what caused Umno and Barisan Nasional’s defeat on May 9.

While candidates such as Johari and Khairy Jamaluddin blamed themselves and the 1Malaysia Development Bhd issue, other leaders such as Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Annuar Musa remained adamant that the setback was due to Pakatan Harapan’s election tactics and the failure of component parties such as MCA, MIC and Gerakan. – June 30, 2018.