Umno does not need to reinvent itself, says Razaleigh - The Star

By M. Veera Pandiyan

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah is confident that the party will regain its support if leaders behave and govern the country fairly and justly.

Stressing that the party need not reengineer or reinvent itself, he said it was the excesses and arrogance of the leaders which caused anger and disgust among the people, leading them to vote any party except Umno.

In an interview with The Star, he said that if Umno was facing a crisis, it was one of “monumental significance”, not just to members and to Malays, but to the country.

“I cannot foresee the country without Umno. The Malays only know Umno and its allies. I cannot imagine how the Malays will behave or react without Umno on the scene,” he said.

Tengku Razaleigh said though some Malaysians greeted the results of the March 8 election results with euphoria in that it showed maturity in the thinking of the people, he took a different interpretation.

“It would have been different if Umno didn’t behave like that. Even if people had opted to go the multi racial make up of the PKR, for instance, they might have won some seats, but not to the extent of what they are enjoying now.”

[More at http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/11/nation/21219858&sec=nation]