News from MyKmu.Net forum held in PJ today

"UMNO PASCA PILIHAN RAYA UMUM KE 12: SATU PENILAIAN"

Umno's sins of commission and omission

It was to be the first Umno-dominated forum to discuss what went so disastrously wrong for the party and its Barisan Nasional allies in the 12th general election on March 8.
Umno supporters’ club MyKMU.net brought in Youth executive council member Mukhriz Mahathir, Johor information chief Dr Mohd Fuad Zarkashi and former Selangor head Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, but the main attraction was the ascerbic former party president, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The frustration that has run deep in many sections of the party spilled over into three hours of pin-the-blame-on-the-president, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Mohd Fuad kicked off the three-hour session by comparing the party to a weary frog. He said Umno has become lethargic because of many leaders who are sluggish but that a change of leadership could raise the party to its glory days again.
Using the 1999 elections as a benchmark, Mohd Fuad said then president Dr Mahathir Mohamad had instituted many changes after that setback. These included the formation of the Puteri Umno wing to reach out to young voters.
Although Umno did well in 2004 under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - who had taken over from Mahathir in November 2003 - the party saw unprecedented losses last month.
BN not only lost a long-held two-thirds majority in Parliament, it also lost four additional states to opposition parties and failed to take back Kelantan which PAS has ruled since 1990.
But unlike 1999, the current leaders have been slow to react, said Mohd Fuad, who proposed reform of the Umno Youth wings and the supreme council.
“Intellectual ability is becoming more important in the current age especially for youth movements,” he said, suggesting that Umno has to be managed like a country if it is to stay relevant.
Umno ‘at the crossroads’
Mukhriz offering few arguments beyond pointing to Abdullah’s “weak and corrupt” leadership.
Peppering his speech with anecdotes on how he has joined Umno only recently - because a “certain family member” had blocked his entry - he had audience in stitches.
“But I understand why my father (Mahathir) prevented me from joining earlier. He didn’t want to be influenced by family members when he made major decisions.
“When my father made decisions, he only wanted to be influenced by the people and not his family members.”
The rest of his 15-minute time slot was spent on taking potshots at Abdullah and son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin, who is also Umno Youth deputy head and new parliamentarian for Rembau.
“We have reached the crossroads now and need to discuss issues which determine the survival of Umno and Malays, although there are those who don’t want us to speak up,” said Mukhriz.
“In fact, there is a SMS going around preventing Umno members from attending this forum. Some quarters are preventing us from speaking up today because there is a problem with the country, party and leadership.”
He identified the main problems as nepotism, cronyism, rising inflation, corruption, rising crime and the failure of positive effects of development to trickle down to the public.
“On top of that, we have a prime minister who can’t solve these issues,” Mukhriz noted.
The mainstream media also does not reflect the realities on the ground, and "only serve the interest of selected individuals”.
Because members are afraid of losing their positions and contracts, nobody says anything “...and we are afraid until we have forgotten our struggle for the Malay agenda”.
“If you don’t see the flaws of Pak Lah’s leadership, then there is no need for change. But if you see what I see, if you realise what I realise and if you want to seek the truth like me then I urge you stand beside me to seek the solution, truth together and convince the people especially the Malays in Umno,” said Mukhriz.
Mohd Khir’s 10-year theory
Mohd Khir steered clear of criticising Abdullah, reasoning that Umno is experiencing a common 10-year cycle - as had happened during the 1969 election, about 10 years after the country’s Independence in 1957.
In 1981, the third prime minister Hussein Onn vacated the post for Mahathir and in 1987, there was the Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah-Mahathir battle in Umno. In 1999, Umno again faced a crisis when deputy president Anwar Ibrahim was sacked after a fallout with Mahathir.
This, he explained, was cyclical and all the BN component parties too face such setbacks.
Just as the New Economic Policy came out of the 1969 electoral setbacks, new policies will have to be crafted to address the needs of all the people now.
“We have to be objective when we look at this and not get emotional,” he said.
Mohd Khir (photo, far left) said leadership changes are not the only option - reform of the economic, education, religious and social policies is also necessary.
But the audience was hostile. Booed throughout, Mohd Khir's assertion that he is a clean politician was met with shouts of “Liar!”
Khir, who remained calm, was repeatedly taunted with questions about alleged cronyism during his tenure as Selangor menteri besar. His answers were met with jeers, prompting the organisers to appeal for decorum.
The forum was a robust affair, even leading to a Youth chief from the Sekinchan branch being hustled out of the hall.
During the question-and-answer session, Hasnizan Adham (right) had first asked if Umno was coming up with programmes to attract more youth.
He then asked if Umno would ever consider taking back former deputy president Anwar Ibrahim, now PKR de facto leader.
Before he could even complete his question, other participants erupted in shouts of “Get out!” and “Bastard!”. He was escorted out by the organising team before the situation worsened.
The recent elections saw an erosion of support from all communities for BN, which received only 48 percent of the popular vote.
Indian support fell to 48 percent from 83 percent in 2004; Chinese votes went down to 35 percent (from 65 percent) and Malay votes dropped to 58 percent (from 63 percent).





PM has 'no shame' for refusing to quit

Veteran ex-leader Dr Mahathir Mohamad launched his strongest ever attack against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today, and again called for his resignation following disastrous election results.
Abdullah, also president Umno, is facing increasing calls to quit from party leaders.
"I ask (Abdullah) to resign," the former prime minister, who ruled Malaysia for 22 years, told a gathering of at least 1,000 Umno members.
The focus of the meeting was to analyse the March 8 election results but it turned out to be a platform to demand Abdullah's resignation.
Umno members criticised Abdullah and the alleged influence son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin, who is a deputy leader of the powerful Umno youth wing, has over him in decision-making.
"Anyone else would have already resigned but (Abdullah) has no shame," Mahathir, who hand-picked Abdullah to succeed him in October 2003, told a cheering crowd.
Dr M: Stand by my side
Mahathir said Abdullah had ignored the will of the people, while the veteran's son, Mukhriz, a lawmaker, echoed the call for Abdullah to go.
"To bring about (reform), the top leadership has to be held responsible. The prime minister must gracefully withdraw," Mukhriz said.
He urged Umno members to speak out and not be intimidated.
"Be brave, if you love your country and speak out," he said. "We have been told to keep quiet but I ask you now to stand by my side."
Abdullah, 68, has claimed a mandate to rule despite unprecedented election losses, but observers say he is on borrowed time.
Senior lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had said he would challenge Abdullah's leadership if he received enough support.

Dr M: Blame the 'Sultan' and the Kid

Umno was thrashed in the general election because of poor selection of candidates by ‘Sultan’ Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and ‘Kid’ Khairy Jamaluddin - so claimed former party president Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In full cry this morning in Petaling Jaya, Mahathir amused some 1,000 party supporters with his caustic wit as he expanded on a pet theory - how Umno has been turned into a “family party” where power is concentrated in the hands of Abdullah and his son-in-law.
The event was organised by pro-Mahathir Umno supporters’ group MYKMU.Net, as a post-election forum.
The three-hour session first featured three speakers - former Umno Selangor chief Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, Umno Youth executive committee member Mukhriz Mahathir and Johor Umno information chief Dr Mohd Fuad Zarkashi - who analysed why the party had done badly in the March 8 polls.
Mahathir, who took the podium alone at the end, kept his audience captivated for about 30 minutes, with his delivery entirely in Bahasa Malaysia.
“Of course, everyone knows that the list of candidates is chosen and submitted to Sultan Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) by state leaders but once it reached to the party president, somebody else takes over,” he said.
“There is somebody in the ‘next office’ that has a say when choosing the candidates. This led to better and capable Umno candidates being dropped to make way for candidates that ended up losing.”
Saying that this nexus is destroying Umno, Mahathir told his audience with trademark sarcasm: “But this is just a rumour, don’t listen to my bad mouth!”
To thunderous applause, he continued the verbal offensive against Khairy (right), painting him as a power-broker in Umno and a significant influence on Abdullah’s every decision in politics and economics.
“The baffling thing is why Umno leaders so afraid of this kid. The ministers should have no problem to tenyeh (smash) this kid, but it seems that they are too afraid and I don’t know why,” Mahathir said.

Abdullah ‘shameless’
Predictably, Abdullah was pulled into the tirade, for his weak leadership of the party and country.
“Crises in Umno are normal. When leaders at the time of each crisis could not handle it well, for the sake of the party, they resigned. This particular leader, however, has refused to do so.
“This leader is the country’s only prime minister to ever come from an opposition state (Penang)...,” said Mahathir.
Loud laughter prompted him to pause before he completed his statement to more laughter: “When I was prime minister, the state I come from (Kedah) belonged to BN. Has he (Abdullah) no shame?”
Mahathir said he believes that Abdullah has no option but to step down in order to save Umno from further humiliation and destruction.
In this respect, he expressed support for Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s call for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to be held immediately.
“Umno must conduct an immediate review of the party’s poor performance. The EGM must also discuss the possibility of amending the party constitution,” Mahathir said, explaining that this would enable other leaders to mount a serious challenge for the top post.
Umno rules stipulate that any candidate who wants to contest for the presidency must obtain 30 percent of the nominations (currently, 58 of the 191 divisions). The rule was introduced during Mahathir’s tenure “to ensure that only serious candidates” offer their candidacy.
However, he is now of the view that “times have changed” and that abolition of the quota system would not be detrimental to the party in any way.
“In my time, if anybody wanted to challenge me it was permissible to do so as long as (they had) sufficient support. I never stopped anybody from challenging me,” he said.
“But now the quota system has been abused to quell any challenges to the presidency post and this is not right. It must be changed.”
He also fielded questions at the end of his presentation, including:
Do you think that Najib Abdul Razak is still capable of becoming a good successor now that he seemed to be Pak Lah’s ‘yes’ man?
Mahathir: We cannot be exact any more about anything. That is why we need to amend the party constitution so that more capable candidates can challenge if the leadership is seen to be weak.
What is your reply to Zam (former information minister Zainuddin Maidin) who blamed you as a factor for BN’s poor performance in the polls?
(With a smirk) Yes, I admit this. I don’t want to be seen as supporting a weak leader. I will never support a weak leader. BN people voted against BN because of the party’s weak leadership so I don’t mind being blamed for it.
Asked if he would lead a movement to reform Umno, he asked for stronger support for the suggestion, saying “we have to fight together”.
There was no doubt of his popularity in this quarter of the party. As he was escorted to his car, it was to shouts of Hidup Mahathir!



Mukhriz backs Najib as Umno chief

Umno Youth executive committee member Mukhriz Mahathir said he would support deputy president Najib Abdul Razak should he challenge Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the party presidency.
At a press conference after the MyKMU.net forum in Petaling Jaya today, Mukhriz was asked who he would support to replace Abdullah.
“I’ve not made that decision. Of course, I will have to consult my boss (Hishamuddin) to decide and announce where he will go next.”
As to whether there is factional fighting within Umno and if he is ready to face the consequences of this, he said the party’s problems “do not come from me”.
“The election results everywhere indicate that there is dissatisfaction with the current leadership. Umno members are now voting for other parties in big numbers and this seldom happens. What we want to do is to reassure everyone of Umno’s leadership.”
As for the implications, the 44-year-old businessman said that if action is taken against an Umno member for voicing his position, it would only confirm his belief that Umno has no more room for dissent.
“Take for instance my letter (calling for Abdullah’s resignation). Although, this was referred to the Umno Youth disciplinary board, no action was taken. And this gives us the confidence to speak up,” he added.
He also clarified that he was speaking on his own behalf, although many members share his opinion.
Former Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo was asked again if he had shredded documents prior to the opposition-led coalition taking office in the state.
“I didn’t shred any documents,” he said.
When told that this involved the state secretary’s office, he replied: “That’s his office, not my office. I also did not give any instructions to shred any documents. Please ask the officer involved.
“(Every) three months, we do an audit of the administration and items which are deemed not necessary are destroyed.”
Mohd Khir stepped down as Umno head in the state following the loss of Selangor to the opposition in the March 8 elections.

M'sia's ruling party dissidents launch attack on PM Abdullah

(Straits Times) KUALA LUMPUR - RULING party dissidents in Malaysia launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Tuesday, saying there is 'something very wrong' with his leadership following disastrous election losses last month.

Led by former leader Mahathir Mohamad, about 2,000 party members gathered at a hotel, in the most serious challenge to Mr Abdullah's leadership since he presided over the ruling National Front coalition's dismal show in the March 8 elections.

The meeting's agenda was to analyse the unprecedented losses suffered in the vote. But as speaker after speaker took the stage, the meeting turned into a free-for-all session to bitterly criticise the 68-year-old prime minister, who is watching his grip on power weakening day by day despite claiming to have the full support of his United Malays National Organisation.

The party is the dominant component of the 14-party National Front.

'We cannot deny the truth when there is a cancer,' said Mahathir, adding that Mr Abdullah has lost touch with reality because he is surrounded by 'yes men.'

'I call on him to resign. Anyone else would have done so already, but he is shameless,' Mr Mahathir said.

Mr Mahathir ruled Malaysia for 22 years before handing over power to Mr Abdullah in 2003. Although Mr Mahathir hand-picked Mr Abdullah, he is now the prime minister's most vocal critic. His son Mukhriz, a senior party official, also urged Mr Abdullah to resign.

'We have reached a crossroads. There is something very wrong with our leadership, which is Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,' Mr Mukhriz said to loud applause.

Clear sign of deep crisis in National Front
The open display of anger is a clear sign of the deep crisis in the National Front, which is reeling from its worst electoral performance ever, raising the possibility of the opposition dislodging it one day.

For the first time in history, the National Front lost five of Malaysia's 13 states. It also lost its traditional two-thirds majority for the first time since 1969.

The election results were 'not a wake up call but a slap in the face,' Mr Mukhriz said.

He also accused Mr Abdullah of failing to control rampant corruption, nepotism and cronyism at high levels, apparently referring to his son-in-law, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, who is believed to wield enormous influence in the government.

Mr Mukhriz said party members had received anonymous messages warning them not to attend Tuesday's conference.

'We have been told to keep silent ... I urge you to stand with me to seek the truth and find a resolution,' Mr Mukhriz said, adding that it was vital for the party's survival.

An Abdullah loyalist, Mr Mohammed Khir Toyo, acknowledged that the party needs reforms but stressed that a leadership change was not necessary. As soon as he finished speaking, he was bombarded with questions from the audience whether Mr Khairy had influence in choosing election candidates.

'There was some influence by some people,' Mr Mohammed Khir acknowledged, without naming Mr Khairy.

Forced on the back foot, the enfeebled Mr Abdullah has postponed party elections, which were due in August, to December. Critics say he is trying to avoid losing a re-election to the post of party president, but Mr Abdullah says he is not running away.

However, postponing the elections will also give more time to his detractors to gather support against Mr Abdullah. Party rules require a challenger to be endorsed by 30 percent of the party's 191 divisions in the country, a tough proposition for someone not entrenched.

Dissidents have demanded that the 30 per cent clause be abolished to allow a more democratic election.

Mahathir: Khairy tukar calon BN
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad hari ini menuduh menantu perdana menteri Khairy Jamaluddin mempengaruhi senarai calon-calon BN menjelang hari penamaan calon akhir Februari lalu.
"Siapa yang tukar (nama calon)? Siapa yang duduk bilik sebelah?" katanya, dengan melambangkan secara sinis naib ketua Pemuda Umno itu sebagai penasihat di istana "duli yang maha mulia sultan (Datuk Seri) Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) shah".
Dr Mahathir berkata akibat campur tangan Khairy itu, ramai calon penting Umno tidak dapat bertanding dalam pilihanraya 8 Mac lalu dan mereka digantikan dengan muka-muka baru.
"Ramai jaguh-jaguh Umno tidak dapat bertanding, orang baru diberikan tempat."
"Inilah reformasi baru ala KJ," katanya, disambut sorakan dan tepukan gemuruh kira-kira 1,000 peserta.
Bekas perdana menteri itu berucap selepas forum 'Umno Pasca Pilihanraya ke-12: Satu Penilaian', anjuran kumpulan penyokong parti itu MyKmu.net, di sebuah hotel tengah hari ini.(MK)




Mukhriz: Berdiri disisi saya

“Berdiri disisi saya, untuk cari Kebenaran, yakinkan rakyat, yakinkan orang UMNO kembali, syiarkan ugama Islam, martabatkan Bangsa dan majukan Negara!”, desak Exco Pemuda UMNO di Forum UMNO PASCA PRU12 anjuran KMU.net disebuah hotel di Petaling Jaya.
Ahli Parlimen Batu Pahat Dr. Hj. Mohd. Fuad Zarkashi berpendapat bahawa MT UMNO perlu rombakan, sebagaimana pengharaman UMNO 4 Feb 1988, berlaku “Pembetulan, pembersihan dan ‘akhlak politik’ pemimpin”. “UMNO dipimpin oleh ramai yang suka ‘mengangguk”. Reform keatas UMNO ini perlu dilakukan segera untuk mengembalikan keyakinan rakyat, terutama orang Melayu dan pandangan suara golongan muda perlu dikaji dan jadikan aspirasi untuk membuat keputusan.
Mantan Pengerusi Perhubungan UMNO Dato’ Seri Dr. Mohamad Khir Toyo mengulas mengenai semua pihak tidak puas hati mengenai perlaksanaan DEB dan perlu melihat semula formula yang perlu diguna-pakai.
Mantan Perdana Menteri Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad mengulas gema sorakan dan respons para hadirin hari ini merupakan “Bunyi UMNO dahulu”. Beliau juga menjelaskan sistem kuota yang diperkenalkan oleh UMNO kerana pemimpin seperti Anwar Ibrahim mampu mengulingkan seorang pemimpin UMNO yang amat berjasa seperti En. Ghaffar (Baba) tetapi sekarang bersetuju sistem kuota ini dimasuhkan kerana ahli ahli UMNO kini dilarang ‘bersuara’ dan ujud budaya takut.” Beliau juga menambah Tengku Tan Sri Razaleigh Hamzah mencabar beliau untuk jawatan Presiden UMNO dan beliau hampir kalah.
Tun Dr. Mahathir kini membuat ‘fikiran kedua’ mengenai Dato’ Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak sebagai calon mencabar Kepimpinan dan juga menegaskan mana mana pemimpin yang berhasrat untuk menerajui parti perlu dipilih Perwakilan dan mendapat sokongan kuat akar umbi. Beliau menyokong mesyuarat agung luar (EGM) UMNO sebagaimana yang dicadangkan oleh Tengku Razaleigh tetapi menambah EGM juga wajar memutuskan sistem kuota ini dimansuhkan.
Dalam sidang media, apabila ditanya pemberita, Mukhriz mengaku bahawa pilihan peribadi beliau untuk Presiden UMNO ialah Timbalan Presiden UMNO Dato’ Serii Mohd. Najib Tun Razak dan bersedia menimbang untuk dicalonkan sebagai Ketua Pemuda UMNO hanya selepas Dato’ Seri Hishamuddin Hussein membuat keputusan mengenai kedudukan beliau dalam pergerakan sayap kiri UMNO itu.
(http://bigdogdotcom.wordpress.com/)

Khir: Tidak cukup ubah pemimpin

Bekas menteri besar Selangor, Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo berkata, menukar Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi tidak akan menyelesaikan masalah dalam Umno.
Sebaliknya, kata beliau yang paling penting ialah menukar sistem secara keseluruhan sistem dalam kerajaan dan parti bagi mengembalikan semula keyakinan orang ramai.
Tambah Dr Mohd Khir, Umno dan BN telah mengalami krisis dan pertukaran kepemimpinan dalam tempoh 10 tahun sekali, bermula kekalahan teruk pada 1969 dan rusuhan kaum.
"Kerajaan boleh guna formula tahun 1969 iaitu memperkenalkan Mageran (Majlis Gerakan Negara) selepas Perikatan kalah di Kelantan, Perak dan Pulau Pinang yang akhirnya berlaku perubahan dalam politik dan kerajaan.
"Akibat kekalahan itu, kerajaan memperkenalkan Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB) untuk membantu ekonomi khususnya orang Melayu.
"Hari ini Barisan Nasional (BN) sedang mengalami krisis kerana orang tidak puas hati bukan sahaja terhadap kepimpinan parti dan negara tetapi juga kepada bidang ekonomi, pendidikan dan agama," kata Dr Mohd Khir ketika berucap di forum 'Umno pasca pilihanraya umum ke-12: Satu penilaian' di Hotel Singgahsana di Petaling Jaya hari ini.
Umno juga, katanya, membuat pertukaran kepemimpinan pada 1981 selepas krisis perpecahan PAS daripada BN, dan kemudian diikuti pertembungan kumpulan Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah dengan presiden waktu itu Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Krisis dalam Umno muncul lagi, kata Dr Mohd Khir, pemecatan timbalan perdana menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim pada 1998 dan kemunculan gerakan reformasi dan kini parti itu berdepan krisis susulan ketewasan mengejut dan besar-besaran dalam pilihanraya umum lalu.
Di majlis tersebut, Dr Mahathir menyampaikan ucap utama dan sesi soal jawab selepas forum tersebut.
Manakala anak mantan perdana menteri itu, yang juga exco Pemuda Umno, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir dan ketua penerangan Umno Johor, Datuk Fuad Zakarshi dua lagi ahli panel forum yang dihadiri kira-kira 1,000 orang.
Dr Mohd Khir berkata, daripada 500 maklum balas yang diperolehi melalui blognya yang dibangunkan sejak tiga hari lalu, orang Melayu, Cina dan India tidak berpuas hati dengan DEB.
"Untuk itu, (kita) perlu membuat perubahan bukan sahaja dalam kerajaan dan parti tetapi juga membabitkan pendidikan dan ekonomi yang memberi kepuasan kepada semua orang," katanya lagi.
"Orang sudah hilang kepercayaan terhadap kerajaan dan parti (Umno)," katanya lagi.
Sehubungan itu, beliau berkata, kepimpinan perlu mengambil tindakan untuk memulihkan semangat rakyat terhadap kerajaan dan parti.
Ketika ditanya peserta mengenai pemilihan calon-calon BN di Selangor dalam pilihanraya umum lalu, Dr Mohd Khir berkata, ia dibuat berdasarkan kelulusan dari enam jabatan kerajaan untuk memastikan benar-benar bersih dan layak.
"Saya (sebagai pengerusi BN negeri), Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak, Pak Lah (Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) dan setiausaha agung Umno (Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad) duduk untuk menentukan senarai calon.
"Walaupun ada pengaruh dari pihak tertentu, orang yang kita rasa boleh menang, kita kekalkan walau tidak disenangi oleh pihak tertentu.
"Kini mereka (yang cuba mempengaruhi calon) telah belajar dari kekalahan tersebut," katanya apabila ditanya sama ada naib ketua Pemuda Umno, dan menantu perdana menteri, Khairy Jamaluddin mempengaruhi senarai calon BN sehingga negeri itu berjaya ditawan pembangkang dalam pilihanraya umum lalu.
Dr Mohd Khir juga berkata, menteri besar baru Selangor, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim boleh menyiasat kepimpinan kerajaan BN Selangor semasa beliau menjadi menteri besar.
Katanya, mereka boleh siasat nombor akaun bank untuk melihat jumlah wang yang dimiliknya.

MalaysiaInsider
PETALING JAYA, April 1 – While Anwar sought to present a united opposition today, in another part of town, the main ruling party was in open revolt, with hundreds of supporters meeting at a Kuala Lumpur hotel this morning to demand that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's resign.
Faces in the packed lobby of Hotel Singgahsana in Petaling Jaya were all turned to the projector screen displaying a live broadcast of the forum inside the ballroom, just steps away. The ballroom itself was filled with people squeezed from wall to wall, like gas molecules trying to become one solid.
They came from every part of the country, the 500, and even from as far as London to hear from Umno elders like former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Umno brand names like his son Datuk Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, who is Umno Youth Exco member and a new member of parliament.
What a mixed crowd. There were men in suits, women in blings, young people in jeans and T-shirts. The scene was set for a high-voltage gathering.
When Datuk Mukhriz took the microphone, the room erupted into cheers. Yes, they knew what was coming and were eager for it. How the Prime Minister had been misadvised by his own, how those advisers included his son-in-law Khairy Jamaludin; talk of cronyism, etc.
When one woman asked a question in English, shouts of “Cakap Melayu!” and the like almost drowned out her query of how Umno was hoping to engage with younger voters like herself.
But the biggest ruckus came when a man asked why Umno did not want to take back Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The crowd went wild. Shouts of “Kurang ajar!” “Biadab!” rang around the hall and a riot nearly broke out. In the end, the young man had to be escorted out of the hall by the organisers. More for his safety than anything else really.
When former MB Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo tried to address the crowd, he was also shouted down. Obviously they blamed him for losing Selangor. One member of the audience said: “It is quite brave of him to come here and address the people.”
Khir called for an urgent reform of Umno. "We can no longer allow this to be handled in an ad hoc manner," he said in the panel, joined by Umno Johor Information Chief Dr Mohamad Fuad Zarkashi.
Khir did, however, make a point that Umno seemed to get into trouble every 10 years, a point that the keynote and final speaker, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was about to refute.
When the former Premier took to the stage of deliver the closing address, the ballroom erupted into wild cheers and shouts of “Hidup Tun Mahathir!” (“Long live Tun Mahathir!”)
He brought the audience’s attention back to the issue of the day – how Umno, especially its leadership, needs to reform and how they need to go about it. The crowd nodded emphatically in agreement and slowly but surely reduced its decibels to better listen to the soft-spoken but well-seasoned politician.
It was clear many still held him in high regard, even in the present climate. More than two handsful showed their support outwardly, in the button badges they wore on the collars of their Polo tees and lapels of their business suits.
He held them in thrall from the start, spicing his speech on conducting a post-mortem with jokes that seemingly poked fun at himself and his profession even as it sank barbs into his appointed successor.
“In a post-mortem, we cut open the body and find out a lot of things. If it’s cancer, say it’s cancer. If it’s TB, say it’s TB. Don’t go and tell family members that it’s something else because you think that is what they want to hear,” said Mahathir, to great applause.
He spoke about the need for the party to remember its roots, the direction it came from, in order to move forward and not in confusion move backwards. The crowd nodded.
He reminded them that Umno is always full of crisis, not just “once every 10 years or so” as said by Khir Toyo during the panel discussion.
The trick to handling such crises, said Mahathir, is to remember Umno’s “roh pejuang”, the fighting spirit that infused the party’s original struggle as championed by party founder Onn Jaafar. The crowd roared in response, particularly when he mentioned that Umno had always in the past, evolved from “reformasi-reformasi kecil”.
He blamed the disastrous results of the party’s performance on the elements of fear and loathing. Fear from the people who dared not stand up for the truth, who failed to convey the people’s wishes to the leadership; fear from the leadership who failed to listen objectively to the people’s wishes; and loathing from the people who could see that their messages were being manipulated by certain individuals who bore the initials KJ.
Mahathir spoke about the restrictions on the media, a topic which his son Mukhriz had brought up earlier during the panel session. Mukhriz had alleged that the government of the day had turned much of the media machines into propaganda machines, to further interests of “certain individuals”.
The biggest cheers were saved for the calls by Mahathir and his son for Abdullah's leadership to be challenged to save the party.
"Umno risks becoming no longer relevant because there are now more 'yes men' than those who are willing to give dissenting views," said Mahathir. "We must look at ourselves and be brave and take action to correct Umno.” The meeting, which began at 9.30am, ended before lunch, at 12.30pm.