KUALA LUMPUR – UMNO can no longer hold on to its tradition that its party President must also hold the position as the Prime Minister.
UMNO Veteran, Tan Sri Shahrir Samad thinks that UMNO can no longer practice the one man show concept, where a single icon dominates and controls everything.
Although the Prime Minister candidate is very important, as of today, UMNO has yet to have a candidate.
“There is no decision yet although we have our President, Deputy President, Vice-President, we know. It means that we are going to face this situation until the General Election.
“The new alignment we would be depending on is also up to the acceptance of the existing UMNO leadership that this is the time to change. This is the time for a new way.
“We do not need to return to the method where the President of UMNO must become the Prime Minister,” he said during a interview published by the National Council of Professors (MPN) today.
According to Shahrir, UMNO was earlier known as a dominant party and traditionally, the President of UMNO would become the Prime Minister.
However, the tradition of UMNO as the Prime Minister was ceased after the Barisan Nasional (BN) lost the 14th General Election (GE14).
Meanwhile, Shahrir said, UMNO has two credible leaders; one to take care of the party and the other to lead the government.
Quoting the words of former Prime Minister the late Tun Hussein Onn who once said that there would be a time when UMNO would have a different party leadership and a different government.
“He said, that would happen as the party would become bigger and the government becomes more complex. Thus, the governance of the government and the leadership of the party need different set of skills and ability.
“I said, that could happen, but not during his time as it was not as complex as the current situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Shahrir said, he wants to see UMNO being able to form a new alignment, to form a political party and government as its members are party representatives with certain capability in governance.
“From what I see and explain, the party has its spokesperson from certain fields, foreign ambassadors have started visiting us… this is a special situation as it has never happened in the national and UMNO’s history.
“So, are we brave enough to step into the new alignment?” he added. –MalaysiaGazette
