Changes In UMNO

By Syed Akbar Ali

Well the UMNO boys have come out of their three day retreat at Janda Baik. They have suggested changes to the way the party is managed and run.

Firstly they have agreed to scrap the “unpopular quota system whereby aspirants to top party posts had to secure a minimum number of nominations.” This is a good move by the party.

Now “anyone wishing to go for the posts of president, deputy president, three vice-presidents or the supreme council will now only need to register his candidature.” This a major plus point. Just fill up a form. Closer to grassroots democracy.

Another major proposal was to “enlarge the voting base from the current 2,400 delegates to 146,000 delegates. The top Umno leadership from the president down to the supreme council members will be decided by this bigger voter base and voting will take place at the division AGMs. On top of that, all division AGMs will be held on the same day. These will make it harder to buy votes and will curb the practice of money politics.”

Well this is more and better than the earlier suggestion to only increase the voting base to 60,000 delegates.

I still feel that all 3.2 million UMNO members should be roped in to vote in party elections. The logistics required to organize 146,000 delegates will not be much different for 3.2 million members.

N’theless this will solidify democracy in UMNO. This change alone may make UMNO a force to be reckoned with for the next few decades. Democracy is a very powerful thing. None of the other political parties in the Pakatan or in the BN have this requirement. This is a significant change.

The DAP for example has the secretive and mysterious CWC (Central Working Commitee) which has significant say on who rises and falls in the DAP. I believe that someday this little noticed detail about the DAP will cause severe upheavals in the party.

But please note that 146,000 delegates spread out across 191 Bahagian translates into an easily manageable 764 delegates per Bahagian. How exactly these 146,000 delegates are chosen, how they are organized are crucial to deciding if this change will benefit the party or whether it just means sharing the loot with more people.

The Ketua Bahagian and Ketua Perhubungan Bahagian have tremendous influence over the Ketua Cawangan and AJK Cawangan – which will most likely provide the 764 voting delegates from each Bahagian. What are the safeguards that the Ketua Bahagian will not ‘hijack’ 764 people in his Bahagian?

This is where I think all 3.2 million UMNO members voting all at one time is far better.

The other more important change that is required is to limit the tenure of office bearers (President down to Ketua Bahagian) to just two terms (or maybe three terms max). This has not been adopted at all.

Perhaps the party leaders need reassurance that a leader can still try for another term but after “sitting out” one term. In the United States, the President can serve two consecutive terms only. If he wants to be President again, he must stay out for at least one term. After that, the Constitution allows him to run for President again. So the limit on the US President is only two "consecutive" terms. UMNO can adopt the same principle. It is tried and tested.

Even the MIC has announced that the tenure of the party President is now limited to three terms only – but starting from this year ‘wonly’. This means good old Samy will have value for almost another decade.

I feel the UMNO leaders who are now debating these changes must really face this gauntlet and come to realize how critical it is to limit the tenure of the party leadership. That is a certain way of ensuring change in the party. Without constant change the party is as good as gone.