Kadir Jasin: Anwar will not let UMNO ‘die’ as Pakatan Harapan needs UMNO

Kadir Jasin: Anwar will not let UMNO ‘die’ as Pakatan Harapan needs UMNO





DESPITE UMNO being in its most vulnerable position in its 77-year-old history today (founded May 11, 1946), rest assured that the party will never die – not during the tenure of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at least.


Very frankly speaking, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman and PKR president does not want UMNO to die, for he needs UMNO to have enough numbers to maintain a coalition within his unity government, according to veteran journalist and blogger Datuk A. Kadir Jasin.

“UMNO members can keep (its president Datuk Seri) Ahmad Zahid (Hamidi) and other toxic leaders yet UMNO will not die. At worse, it will probably be in a state of “hidup segan mati tak mahu” (literally, afraid to live but unwilling to die),” penned the former Bersatu supreme council member in his latest Facebook post.


“UMNO is important to PH because it represents the Malay vote. PH does not have a strong enough Malay party after Bersatu withdraws in 2020.”

In retrospect, Kadir issued a reminder that the PH government led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad fell when Bersatu withdrew following the Sheraton Move conspiracy in February 2020.

“Anwar’s coalition government could experience the same thing if UMNO withdraws,” he cautioned.

Notwithstanding this, Kadir likened UMNO’s current strength along with its position in the unity government to “an aphid (plant bug) that is nurtured by ants”.

“Or UMNO can re-strengthen its organisation by choosing a trusted leadership line and, as formulated by Khairy Jamaluddin, establish a long-term understanding with PH,” he suggested.

“In other words, UMNO became a Malay party in PH. Khairy has said that this is exactly what he will do if he leads UMNO. UMNO’s enemy and arch-rival now is no longer PH but Perikatan Nasional (PN) and its own toxic leaders.”

With the splinter Bersatu party aligning with PAS Kadir foresees that the support for UMNO would only diminish further. As evident from the 15th General Election outcome on Nov 19, UMNO’s candidates only obtained 13.55% of the vote which goes to say that for every 100 Malays who voted, only 13 voted for UMNO.

“From the 109 seats won in the 2004 national polls, UMNO’s presence in the Dewan Rakyat fell to 79 in 2008, rose slightly to 88 in 2013 before falling back to 54 in 2018 but now only 26 remain,” added Kadir. – Jan 12, 2023