Umno: 30 Years After

Abstract

The Unity of UMNO Although Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra was not liked by some sections of the Malays because of his policy and attitude of tolerance, the United Malays' National Organization (UMNO) under his leadership was most united ? an achievement which has not been matched by other leaders either before or after him. His attitude which enabled him. to place himself as the Father of the Party and his noninvolvement in any particular faction earned the respect of most party members. UMNO had its branches almost everywhere in Malaysia. Where there are Malays there was UMNO. Every stratum of society, from the anstocracy to the commoner level, was represented in it. If one were to go to a kampung it would not be the least surprising if its penghulu (headman) was an UMNO member, its imam mesjid (religious head of the mosque) an UMNO member, the local siak (sexton) who lived in the mosque an UMNO member, as well as its teacher, rubber tapper and the ranks of the unemployed in the local coffee shop. In short, UMNO was virtually a sort of grouping within Malay society. And if there had not been any challenge from Partai Islam Malaysia (PAS), then it would be almost possible to say that UMNO is a synonym for Malay. The Tunku's able leadership placed UMNO in an unchallengeable position of strength m national politics. There would not be any political movement m Malaysia if there were no UMNO. But as it has been too long in power it appears that this state of affairs is a source of weakness to its policy and its leaders and, therefore, the desire for change keeps appearing constantly. Whether the Tunku is still energetic or not has not been considered very much. But his reign of power from 1955 to 1969 is considered long enough and, indeed, to have been far too long by some. The presence of Tun Abdul Razak as his Deputy ensured that UMNO and the public would not feel too great a loss if the Tunku withdrew. Furthermore. Tun Razak himself from the time when he first became Deputy President of UMNO in 1951 had displayed talents that qualified him to be a leader. On the basis of his hard work and fearlessness many predicted that Tun Razak's leadership would be better than the Tunku's. Tun Razak has always been regarded as a firm and honest man. As a result there did not anse the question of a vacuum in the UMNO leadership if the Tunku left the highest office in the party. In fact, there were any number of those who wanted the Tunku to retire from both the government and the party. There were many who did not feel happy when the Tunku continued to stand in the 1969 General Elections. The Tunku, at that time already sixty-six years old, was considered to be rather old to continue to lead the party and the government. Many sections felt that the Tunku was contesting because he did not want to lose power and because he did not wish to hand over power to Tun Razak. In fact, there were