Zahid suggested that warlords give up their posts and have younger leaders helm the leadership. — Bernama pic

KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 — Trust among party members and the public will be restored in Umno if money politics and its culture of warlords are eradicated, Umno acting president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.

In an interview with Astro Awani, Zahid, who is contesting the Umno president post in the party’s election on June 30, admitted that such elements were alive in the party, with money politics being discussed in the party since 40 years ago.

He also suggested that warlords give up their posts and have younger leaders helm the leadership, quickly asserting that not all senior leaders should be grouped as such.

“If we can focus on the issues to be settled — money politics and warlords. Warlords who are at all levels have to let go of their responsibilities and open up to let youngsters take over their positions,” Zahid said.

“These two problems (money politics and warlords) have become a culture in Umno.

“When we talk about the cleanliness factor, we know that our partners, not all of them should be accused as such. There are older leaders who can provide good leadership, but the issue is of money politics.

“This has been discussed more than 40 years ago, when Umno was divided in the 1987 (party) elections, until Umno was declared illegal,” the Bagan Datoh MP said.

He added that although the party leadership changed hands over the years, money politics continued to fester.

Zahid said that his party had hoped that the culture would change when its election structure was amended to allow division representatives to vote for the party’s leadership line-up on the same day.

“But maybe it is still happening.

“If this culture can be wiped out 100 per cent, the trust from the people and Umno members will return immediately,” he added.

Pakatan Harapan used non-conventional approach

In the interview, Zahid said that Pakatan Harapan (PH) had also used a “non-conventional” approach by focusing on its political foes’ personalities to win in the national polls.

He listed the now-ruling coalition’s decision to adopt PKR’s logo in the 14th general election, as opposed to its own individual ones, and its focus on the personalities of its political enemies as its main winning formula.

He said that the efforts had also led to the court of public opinion “punishing” Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN), even before the May 9.

“A non-conventional approach was used by our political nemesis, which focused on the centre of gravity, that is a person’s personality, which was bombarded with so many issues.

“This strengthened in the mind of the public. The court of public opinion punished us way earlier, before May 9,” he said.

Zahid said that though Umno knew that 60 per cent of the seats it contested were in rural areas, most of the voters were from towns and suburbs, who had an “even more open mind”, which led to PH scoring big.

In the interview, Zahid also said that he would also not sideline his “two” current contenders for the Umno president’s post (Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Khairy Jamaluddin) as their views and ideas were needed to rebuild Umno to its glory days.

The Umno presidential election will see a five-cornered battle instead of seven as speculated earlier, the party’s official nomination list revealed yesterday.

Mohamad Iqbal Mericair from the Bandar Tun Razak division and Mohd Yusof Musa from the Iskandar Puteri division will be the minnows joining three big names for the top post — Zahid, Khairy and Tengku Razaleigh, who is also known as Ku Li.