Bung: New party could hurt Umno

PETALING JAYA: A second Umno leader has voiced concerns over the new political party being set up by former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for its potential to “severely harm” Umno’s political support.

Supreme Council member Bung Mokhtar Radin expressed his concerns soon after Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin had reminded Umno Youth members that the new party was “a powerhouse” as its leaders included Dr Mahathir, deposed Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin and former Supreme Council member Mukhriz Mahathir.

“The new Tun Mahathir party should not be considered trivial or treated as a splinter party and scoffed at as being non-threatening to Umno,” he said and reminded party leaders against complacency.

“Being complacent will be a big mistake and cause harm to the party,” he told FMT, and party leaders must focus on strengthening the party and boosting the confidence of members and citizens.

Bung who is MP for Kinabatangan, said that although Umno was among the oldest parties in the country, there was no guarantee it could remain as the ruling Malay party.

“History will not help Umno to remain as a government, unless Umno redoubles its efforts,” he said.

Khairy had said the main aim of the new party, spearheaded by Muhyiddin, was to draw support from Umno backers and members for its agenda to topple party president Najib Razak.

Khairy said that as long as the president had not committed any wrong and was trustworthy, the youth wing’s responsibility was to defend the institution of party president and the democratically-elected party leadership.

 

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