UMNO Ready To Face New Politics

Wednesday October 14, 2009

DPM: UMNO must be ready to face new politics

UMNO Era of Excellence beckons

PETALING JAYA: UMNO must make changes to face the challenges in the country’s new political landscape, said party deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

“In this critical moment, we seem to be standing on the edge of a cliff. In front of us is a deep ravine, and behind us, steep mountains stand tall.

“When we are faced with such a scenario, we have no choice. If we walk to the edge, we may fall into the ravine and lie there forever. We are at the crossroads in a period of madness,” he said, adding that the leadership at all levels must demand change.

He said UMNO needed to become relevant in understanding the voice, language, style and nuances of the new politics.

Muhyiddin, who is Deputy Prime Minister, was speaking at the simultaneous launch of the Wanita UMNO, UMNOP Youth and Puteri UMNO delegates conference 2009, at Putra World Trade Centre here yesterday.

He said people were being fed with slander and lies to the extent that confusion and falsehood had become the norm.

“Society finds it hard to differentiate between the truth and the misleading statements. In the end, the truth becomes false and lies become the truth. The just become the cruel, those who are cruel, become the fair.

“These are the results of the hands of those who destroy in the name of freedom, fairness, justice and also in the name of the religion. The end justifies the means, although at stake are the race and the country,” Muhyiddin said.

“I am confident that UMNO wants to change. UMNO has begun to change. And UMNO will continue to make changes for good. As a party which is born out of the voice of the Malays and gained support from the people, UMNO will certainly make changes to achieve benefits.

“UMNO is not a static, outdated and stagnant party in a fast-changing world. History has proven that UMNO is a party which is always generating strength, adapting to changes and creating pools of second echelon leaders as part of its rejuvenation process.”

He also called on the three wings to have their respective key performance indices or political key performance indicators to increase the party’s membership, register new voters and form networks with non-governmental organisation.

He gave the wings two-years to achieve such targets.