UMNO Plans Reforms

AFP - 10/13/2009

Malaysian ruling party plans reforms at annual talks

Malaysia's ruling party UMNO kicks off its annual meeting Tuesday, with reforms plans that it hopes will regain public confidence a year after disastrous general elections.

The UMNO-led coalition has floundered since the 2008 polls which produced its worst results in half a century, losing seven out of nine by-elections to a resurgent opposition, and suffering leadership struggles in component parties.

But the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) hopes that the four-day general assembly, which will feature constitutional amendments designed to fight rampant graft, will mark a turning point.

It is also buoyed by a thumping victory in a weekend by-election in central Negeri Sembilan state which saw it double its winning margin in the electorate and end the opposition's winning streak.

UMNO secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said that the abolition of a controversial quota system for candidates vying for top party posts will make the party more open and attract young people to its ranks.

"These measures will rejuvenate and strengthen UMNO," he told state media last week.

But former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad warned it could take more than a constitutional amendment to reform the party, which over its long term in power has become riven by cronyism and infighting.

"I made two amendments (when party leader). Each time, I was totally convinced that the amendment would resolve the problem. However, if the mindset of the members is not tuned to the amendments, they will not be successful," he said.

Under the quota system, candidates contesting for top posts must win the backing of at least 60 of the party's 192 divisions nationwide, creating an environment ripe for "money politics" or vote-buying.

The UMNO assembly opens formally Tuesday evening but the main event will be a speech Thursday by Prime Minister Najib Razak who came to power in April with the task of clawing back support for the beleaguered coalition.

His predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was forced to quit after the 2008 elections which saw the government lose its two-thirds parliamentary majority and control of five states.

A recent survey found Najib's popularity has dropped to 56 percent from 65 percent in June, as excitement over his appointment fades. Support dropped across the ethnic spectrum in multicultural Malaysia, including among majority Muslim Malays who UMNO is supposed to represent.

"These reform plans are vital to winning back urban Malay votes," said Ibrahim Suffian, director of the Merdeka Centre polling organisation.

"Delegates are also expected to discuss about how to prepare for the next general elections," he said, tipping the polls to be held within the next two years.