Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah says Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is aware that he needs grassroots support from the Malay community.
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government will be strong only if it secures unified support from the people, especially from the Malay electorate, says Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
Tengku Razaleigh, better known as Ku Li, said Anwar is aware that he cannot be an effective leader without grassroots support from the Malay community.
Tengku Razaleigh said this grassroots support comes from Umno, a key component party of the unity government, which is also the country’s largest party with over three million members.
“Anwar understands this, and he cannot be the leader everyone is expecting unless he receives support from this ‘group’,” he told FMT after attending a dialogue about his memoirs.
On Umno Supreme Council member Jalaluddin Alias’s earlier statement that the party is ready to welcome back expelled or dismissed members, Tengku Razaleigh affirmed the matter.
Razaleigh, who is an adviser to Umno, said however that the party’s struggles cannot be compromised to accommodate the whims of certain groups.
“There are things we cannot adjust to their preferences. Some left and joined PAS, Bersatu, and so on, but we hope that, perhaps, with new ideas, with new direction from Umno’s leadership, we can also win back everyone (who was sacked),” he said.
Several prominent party leaders such as Khairy Jamaluddin, Noh Omar and Isham Jalil are among those expelled in January 2023. At the time, the party also suspended former minister Hishammuddin Hussein and former information chief Shahril Hamdan.
