The Malaysian Insight

UMNO should be a responsible opposition party instead of a hate-spewing rabble rouser, said its newly elected Wanita head, Noraini Ahmad, as its new leaders take over following Barisan Nasional’s crippling 14th general election loss.

Noraini, who commands the attention of half of the party’s three million members, said this as the new chiefs attempt to forge a new direction for the Malay party in the post-GE14 landscape. 

There has been debate within and outside of Umno of whether the party can be a sombre counter-balance to the government or whether it will turn more extremist and nastier in its bid to recover lost power.

There are worries that Umno’s new president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi  will attempt to move the already conservative party further to the right and play on racial sentiments to strengthen its traditional Malay base.

In an interview with The Malaysian Insight, Noraini appears to envision a different Umno.

The two-term Parit Sulong MP seems to prefer that Umno become a fact-based, effective check on the government’s policies and programmes.

“Umno won’t spread hate against the government. Instead, we will be an opposition that really watches over every action of the government,” the 50-year-old said.

“Our role as the opposition is to be a check and balance. We will monitor what the government is doing.    

“Before (Pakatan Harapan) won the election, they made promises. And they gave themselves a short time to fulfil them which is 100 days,” she said, referring to the 10 policies which PH committed to implementing within 100 days of power.

They include starting an Employees Provident Fund scheme for housewives, abolishing the debts of Felda settlers and streamlining the minimum wage between the peninsula and Sabah and Sarawak.

PH has since delivered on four of those pledges, which include abolishing the goods and services tax (GST) and reviving investigations into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

Protest trend    

Noraini, a former Puteri Umno head, was elected on June 30 in the first party elections since BN lost federal power for the first time since Merdeka.

The GE14 loss led to an exodus of BN and state lawmakers. After losing three MPs – Noor Azmi Ghazali (Bagan Serai), Syed Abu Hussin Syed Abdul Fasal (Bukit Gantang) and Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (Masjid Tanah), Umno, the lynchpin party in BN, is left with 51 parliamentary seats.

This is a far cry from the 88 seats it won in the 13th general election in 2013.

“Whatever they are, I can’t accept their reason. We should stick together through thick and thin, especially when things are hard. We should show loyalty to the party,” she said of those who left.

She keenly feels Mas Ermieyati’s departure as both were friends in Puteri. Noraini led Puteri between 2004 and 2008, while Mas Ermieyati headed it from 2013 to 2018.

Despite the losses, Noraini said the party can still rebuild and return with more support. Being in the opposition, she said, was an advantage.

“We can attract the ‘protest trend’ as there are many people who are loyal and who want to be with Umno… provided there is no intimidation towards people who want to join Umno.

“This is a democracy, I hope the government does not say ‘if we see you going into a Wanita Umno office, you will lose your job.

“I believe if Umno is more open, we can attract more people with more good ideas.” – July 9, 2018.