Is it true that UMNO is an aging party? UMNO was established in 1946 and if UMNO is a human being, now, the age of UMNO is about 67 years old. When UMNO was established in 1946, the members of UMNO were mainly the young Malays who were energetic with spirit which was vibrant with nationalism. The young Malays who had established UMNO in 1946 were mainly the young Malays who had received education from the Colonial Master of the Malays, the British. I think the young Malays who had become the means of establishing UMNO were the young Malays who had studied in England and Australia. While these young Malays were studying in England or Australia they were often made to live with the British or Australian families, who were acting as their foster parents. Studying in England or Australia and living with the British or Australian families, who were acting as their foster parents, in my opinion, to a certain extent had influenced the mindset and belief of these young educated Malays. Although born as Malay and were raised with the Malay cultures but often after they had graduated from studying in Britain or Australia, their mindset and belief had become the mindset and belief of the British or the Australians which were totally devoid of the belief and mindset of Islam. Outwardly they were Malays but their lifestyles were very much like the lifestyle of the British and the Australians. Their attires were like the attires of the British, their pastimes were playing golf and their happy hours were spent by drinking alcohols and dancing with women. I think most of the early leaders of UMNO were these young Malays, who had studied in Britain and Australia, who had adopted the western lifestyles but were endowed with the spirit of nationalism in their hearts. They were very much respected by the other Malays in Malaya and were regarded by the Malays as among the most intelligent Malays, who had the potential to replace the British colonial master as leaders.

According to Tun Dr Mahathir Muhammad, UMNO has become old and as an old man, sooner or later UMNO will have to die or to disappear from this world. In order to prevent UMNO from becoming old and to disappear from this world, according to Tun Dr Mahathir, the old guardians of UMNO must be replaced by the young guardians of UMNO. According to Tun Dr Mahathir the present old guardians of UMNO were the young guardians who used to become the foundation and the pillars of UMNO during the early days of UMNO. According to Tun Dr Mahathir the persons who used to become the foundation and the pillars of UMNO have become weak and old. In order for UMNO to maintain its vigour and strength, according to Tun Dr Mahathir, the current old guardians of UMNO must be replaced with the young intellectuals Malays in UMNO who are endowed with the spirit of nationalism in their hearts. I think, the young Malays whom Tun Dr Mahathir was referring in his article, were probably the Malays who had graduated from abroad in such countries like England and Australia and whom later became the early leaders in UMNO. Tun Dr Mahathir was one of the young Malay intellectuals who had become the pillar and the foundation of UMNO. He himself had graduated as medical doctor from University Malaya of Singapore. Other than Tun Dr Mahathir all the first three Prime Ministers of Malaysia were also the young Malay intellectuals who had graduated from abroad as lawyers and journalist. The first President of UMNO Dato’Onn Jaafar was a journalist and graduated from oversea I believed.

UMNO was established to liberate Malaya from becoming Malayan Union. When the young Malays intellectuals in UMNO were successful in liberating Malaya from becoming Malayan Union, these young Malays intellectuals in UMNO were then powered with the spirit to liberate Malaya from the colonization of the British or to achieve the independence of Malaya from the British. These young Malays intellectuals in UMNO wanted to liberate Malaya from the colonization of the British because after they had graduated from England. They knew that their colonial masters were not those great human beings as they used to believe prior to their coming to United Kingdom to study. Now, these young Malays intellectuals in UMNO believe their colonial masters were only normal human beings with no superiority over them. Prior of studying in England these young Malays intellectuals in UMNO used to believe that their colonial masters were superior to others and have the power to dominate others. Generally the Malays during the colonial era regarded the British as their Master and the Malays used to address the British people as Tuan Orang Putih. The young Malay intellectuals, who studied in England, finally realized that their colonial masters were the normal human beings similar to them and that not all British were clever and intelligent as they had thought earlier. There were many from among the British who were much more stupid and less intelligent than them. When Japanese conquered Malaya from the British, the belief that British are the superior race in this world started to crumbled and faded away from the hearts of not only the intellectual Malays but also all the Malays in Malaya. The belief that British was not superior race in this world had powered and fired the spirit to liberate Malaya from the colonization of Britain in the hearts of all the Malays in Malaya.

The spirit to liberate Malaya from the colonization of the British further increases in the hearts of many Malays in Malaya when Indonesia declares her independence from the Dutch in 1946. When Japanese was defeated in world war two, Indonesians declared her independence from the Dutch who used to colonize Indonesia and when the Dutch wanted to take over Indonesia again from the Indonesians, the Dutch was seriously defeated by the Indonesians. In the whole world, during that time, the spirit of liberating the third world countries from the colonization of the western power was spreading like wild fires. In Malaya, the spirit of gaining independence from the British also spread like wild fire in the hearts of all the Malays. Dato’Onn Jaafar, who was the adopted son of Sultan Ibrahim of Johor, who probably had gone to the west for his education and who was practicing journalism in Singapore became the leader of all the Malay to liberate Malaya from the British. As a journalist Dato’ Onn Jaafar wrote many articles about the problems of the Malays in Malaya. When, British wanted to establish Malayan Union in which the administrative power of the Sultans were taken over by the British, Dato’Onn Jaafar with his friends form United Malay National Organization or UMNO as the platform started to protest against Malayan Union. When Dato’Onn Jaafar resigned from becoming the President of UMNO, the leadership of UMNO was taken over by Tunku Abdul Rahman. Tunku Abdul Rahman made UMNO to have alliance with Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) and Malayan Indian Association (MIC) and formed a party known as Parti Perikatan and with Parti Perikatan, Tunku Abdul Rahman lead the nation towards independence in 1957.

UMNO is the party which leads Barisan National to achieve independence of Malaya from the British. Since independence in 1957, Barisan National is the only party which ruled Malaysia. Now, the age of UMNO is about 67 years old and almost all the young Malays professionals who had earlier become the backbone of UMNO had passed away from this world. Now the old members of UMNO are replaced by their sons and daughters and other Malays who in the majority believe to join UMNO mean to become rich and wealthy. UMNO is the party of the Malays and many Malays have become rich by joining UMNO. With UMNO ruling the country there were many Malays who have become ministers, deputy ministers, secretaries to the ministers, chief ministers while some other Malays were able to gain contracts and projects which worth millions and billions of dollars from the government lead by UMNO. Now, many of the Malays know that the path for the Malays to become rich and wealthy is to join UMNO. Now, Malays in UMNO are taking their turns in order to reach to the top level of leadership in UMNO which means to become even more powerful and wealthier. Everyone in UMNO is advice to wait for their turn in order to reach to the upper leadership level in UMNO. In my opinion only the sons and the daughters of prominent figures in UMNO are allowed to bypass others who are more senior, in order to reach to the top level of leadership in UMNO. Najib Tun Razak, Hishammuddin Tun Hussein Onn, Mukriz Tun Mahathir are all the sons of all the former Prime Ministers of Malaysia and were allowed to bypass the seniors in order to reach to the top level of leadership in UMNO. All other Malays in UMNO, irrespective whether they are more capable than others to become the leaders of UMNO are not allowed to bypass the seniors in order to reach to the top level of leadership in UMNO. All the other Malays other than the sons and the daughters of prominent figures in UMNO are advice to take their turn in order to reach to the top level of leadership in UMNO.

Many Malays who think that UMNO is a secular party or non-Islamic or racial base will not join UMNO but will join Pas or Parti Islam SeMalaysia. Malays who wanted to have power and wealth but are not having the opportunity to have power and wealth in UMNO will not join UMNO but will join PKR or Parti Keadilan Rakyat. There are some UMNO members while waiting for their turn to reach to the top level of leadership in UMNO may be asked to join either Pas or PKR, particularly when the roads to reach the top level of leadership in UMNO for them is closed. While they are still many Malays in UMNO but the number of Malays who join PKR or Pas is on the increase. There are many Malays who are the members of UMNO but because they were not able to obtain power and wealth while they were in UMNO, they became frustrated with UMNO and in the last general election, instead of supporting the UMNO candidates, they were supporting the candidates of the opposition parties. Why they have become frustrated with UMNO? They have become frustrated with UMNO because they were not chosen to become the candidates to contest on behalf of UMNO in the general elections. Now in my opinion the majority members of UMNO only love to have power and wealth and the time when the members of UMNO were very patriotic about their races and country has gone away a long time ago. Although there are efforts to rediscover the spirit of patriotic and nationalism among the members of UMNO but the spirits of patriotic and nationalism only remain in the minds and hearts of the members of UMNO during the Annual Convention of UMNO. Other than that, the spirit which remains in the heart and the minds of the members of UMNO is the spirit of gaining wealth and power.

In my opinion, many of the Malays in Malaysia know that UMNO is no longer the only party which is able to represent the interest of the Malays in the Parliament. There are many Malays who think PKR and Pas are also able to represent the Malays in the Parliament. Many Malays are tired of supporting UMNO because to them only the Malays who are the members of UMNO are given the projects. Many Malays believe they are gaining almost nothing by supporting UMNO. Because they are many Malays who are tired of supporting UMNO, they tend to switch their support to other parties such as PKR and Pas. Now the members of UMNO mainly consist of the old guardian who are waiting for their turn to reach to the top level of leadership in UMNO and the young guardians who have the ambitions to become wealthy with UMNO. Because there are so many old guardians in UMNO waiting for their turn to reach to the top level of leadership in UMNO, there is a clear decrease in the intake of new membership in UMNO. Now there are many Malays who join UMNO just because they are seeing UMNO as the platform for them to obtain projects or businesses from the government.

The Malays who are seeing UMNO as the platform to obtain projects or businesses are not loyal to UMNO. They are not loyal to UMNO because they are interested only to obtain projects and businesses from the government and when they are not able to obtain projects and businesses from the government they will leave UMNO and join other political parties. Malays who have the impression that UMNO is a racial based party will not join UMNO. Malays who have the impression that UMNO is not working to achieve the purpose upon which Prophet Muhammad is sent to this world will also not join UMNO but they will join Pas. Prophet Muhammad saw clearly said in his last sermon, that no Arabs are superior to the non-Arabs and no non-Arabs are superior to the Arabs but the one who is superior from amongst you is the one who has the most of taqwa or the most fear in Allah in their hearts. In my opinion, UMNO will not be able to attract the Malays who are good Muslims to join UMNO as long as UMNO is a racial based party. In my opinion, it is acceptable and appropriate at the time when the majority of the Malays were mainly Muslims to establish a party which is racial base such as UMNO with the aim of solving only the problems of the Malays.

In my opinion, now there are many Malays who are good Muslims, who would like to join UMNO, in case UMNO is not a racial based party but an Islamic based party with the aim of solving the problems of not only the Malays but also of solving the problems of all the Muslims in the whole world. In my opinion, UMNO is an aging party, not because the members and the leaders of UMNO are made up of those who are aging or veteran in UMNO but because, the aim of UMNO is already obsolete or old. UMNO aim is no longer relevant with the current mindset and belief of many of the Malays Muslims of today who are generally better Muslims than the Malay Muslims of the day when UMNO was newly established. A person who grows older in the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils should become wiser because the person will have taqwa. However a person who grows older in UMNO will not obtain taqwa and will become less wise as they grow older in UMNO because the work done in UMNO will not make the members of UMNO to obtain taqwa. A person who grows older in UMNO will obtain in their hearts more of the love of this material wealth. A person who obtains in their hearts more of the love of this material wealth will become less wiser as compared to a person who obtain in their hearts the love of Allah. As the number of the members of UMNO who grow older in UMNO increases then UMNO will have more members who are less wiser which mean UMNO become increasingly old and closer to being extinguished from this world.

The more the love of this material wealth enters into a person’s heart the more the person will love to have more money and wealth. The more a person loves to have more money and wealth the more the person will become less trustworthy and the more the person is willing to take bribery. The more the persons with the love of this material wealth are in UMNO, the closer UMNO to reach his death. How to prevent UMNO from aging and becoming irrelevant in the society? It is possible to prevent UMNO from aging and from dying? Our most respected Tun Dr Mahathir has made the suggestion that UMNO could be saved from dying if the leadership of UMNO is taken over by the members of UMNO who are young, energetic and with vibrant spirit of nationalism. Some members of UMNO are accusing Tun Dr Mahathir of lobbying the members of UMNO to support his son Mukriz who is contesting in the coming general election of UMNO in the middle of October 2013 for the post of Vice President of UMNO. Whether it is true or not that Tun Dr Mahathir is lobbying for his son Mukriz to become the Vice President of UMNO, it is only Allah who knows what is really in the heart of our beloved Tun Dr Mahathir. However I tend to disagree with the opinion of Tun Dr Mahathir that UMNO can be made to become vibrant and energetic again as it used to be by injecting into the ranking of the top leadership of UMNO many young members of UMNO who are energetic and who are imbued with vibrant spirit of nationalism.

As I have told in my previous paragraphs of this articles that almost all the members of UMNO are infected with the love of material wealth. The fact that UMNO has become the leaders of Barisan National which had ruled Malaysia for nearly 56 years has made all the members of UMNO to be infected with the love of material wealth. During those 56 years, UMNO is with Barisan National, there are many members of UMNO who have become wealthy and prosperous. UMNO has become the means upon which many Malays have become wealthy and prosperous. There are many members of UMNO who have become ministers, deputy ministers, political secretaries, state chief minister, rich contractors, rich businessmen and businesswomen, many members of UMNO who are able to obtain scholarships for their sons and daughters to study within and outside the country and there are many members of UMNO who have obtain acres of lands and government projects and contracts from the government which is lead by UMNO. UMNO as the mean to amass wealth is known to many of the Malays and each and every member of UMNO is waiting for their turn to amass wealth and position in UMNO and also in the government. UMNO has become an ocean of power and wealth and whoever among the Malays who wanted to become wealthy and powerful must join the party of UMNO and while in UMNO must tried to climb the ladder of hierarchy in UMNO. There are many Malay youths who join UMNO but in my opinion, there is none from among the Malay youth who join UMNO have the spirit of nationalism as the earlier Malay youth who join UMNO. Tun Dr Mahathir and others of his age probably had joined UMNO because they wanted to fight for the independence of Malaya, building Malaya to become a respected country in this world and helping the Malays to become a respectful race in this world. What is the intention of most of our youth to join UMNO? The intention is in our hearts and there is no one who really knows what is in our hearts except Allah. However our actions will indicate what is the intention in our hearts.

In my opinion, the intention of most of the Malay youth who join UMNO is to gain wealth and positions in the society. I think, it is hard to find the Malays who join UMNO and have the intention of only to please Allah because I think none of the Malay youths are the real believers who have sincere intention in all of their actions. I think all the Malay youth who join UMNO are only Muslims and therefore it is very difficult for only Muslims to have sincere intention of joining UMNO. What is sincere intention? A person who is sincere in joining UMNO is the person who joins UMNO because it is the order of Allah and to please Allah. Who is among the Malay youth who join UMNO only because it is the order of Allah and to please Allah? I think there is none from among the Malay youth who joins UMNO because it is the order of Allah and to please Allah. I think the majority of the Malay youths who join UMNO will have the intention of using UMNO as the platform to gain power and wealth. Many will claim that they join UMNO because they wanted to give service to the Malays but in reality they join UMNO because they know with UMNO they can become rich and wealthy. There are also many Malays who have become frustrated, because they have been the members of UMNO for so many years and yet they were not able to obtain any wealth and position in the government. There are many from among Malays who were the members of UMNO but because of frustration of not having position and wealth while they were in UMNO, leave UMNO and join the opposition parties.

I believe almost all the Malay youth who join UMNO only wanted to use UMNO as platform to gain wealth and in case there is some Malay youth who join UMNO because they wanted to give their services to the Malays, I think the numbers are too small. Will UMNO become strong and energetic with the youths in UMNO who have the love of wealth and worldly position, become the leaders of UMNO? Will the youth who have the love of this material wealth in their hearts contribute significantly to the wellbeing of UMNO? Will the youth who have the love of material wealth in their hearts strengthen UMNO and will do the transformation of UMNO? Will the youth who have the love of this material wealth in their hearts will not take bribery and sell this beautiful country of Malaysia to the foreigners? Certainly the youth who have the love of this material wealth in their hearts will contribute nothing to UMNO but miseries and troubles to UMNO. In my opinion, it is not the factor of age which will determine the wellbeing of UMNO or which will transform UMNO as it is now, to an energetic and vibrant UMNO or which will prevent UMNO from aging and dying of old age but the good qualities of the leaders of UMNO are the main factors which will determine the survival of UMNO. With leaders of good qualities it is possible to transform UMNO to an energetic and vibrant UMNO and thus prevent UMNO from aging and dying of old age.

Age is not the most important factor in the survival of UMNO as compared to the factor of having good qualities leaders in UMNO. Qualities leaders in UMNO will help to transform UMNO from weak and aging party to youthfulness and a strong party. What are the main qualities, the leaders of UMNO should have? Qualities only come with actions or come only when the members of UMNO obey the orders of Allah. Qualities do not come with lectures on qualities or reading of books explaining in detail about good qualities. Good qualities are given by Allah and Allah will only give good qualities to the members of UMNO when the members of UMNO obey the very important orders of Allah. One of the most important qualities that UMNO leaders must have is taqwa. Taqwa will only be obtained by the members of UMNO when the members of UMNO are doing the work of inviting mankind to good and preventing mankind from evils, perform the five times daily prayers, pay zakat or spend part of the wealth which are given by Allah to them, in the path of Allah. Did all the members of UMNO obey these very important orders of Allah? It will be fortunate if the members of UMNO are obeying only one of the orders of Allah which are mentioned above. In my opinion in this coming UMNO meeting which is to be held in the middle of October 2013 the members of UMNO should choose only those who perform the five times daily prayers to become their leaders.

Did the members of UMNO obey the order of Allah of inviting mankind to good and preventing mankind from evils the way done by Prophet Muhammad saw? Did the members of UMNO obey the order of Allah of performing the five times daily prayers? Did the members of UMNO obey the order of Allah of paying zakat and did the members of UMNO spend part of their wealth which is given by Allah to them in the path of Allah? In case the members of UMNO are not doing all the above orders of Allah, then in my opinion there is none from among UMNO members who has taqwa and is suitable to become the leader of UMNO. When even the leaders of UMNO did not have taqwa then UMNO will only be a party which are full with the leaders and the members who have no taqwa but the love of other than Allah in their hearts. Is it possible to obtain a leader of taqwa from among the members of UMNO? Certainly it is not possible to obtain a leader of taqwa within UMNO because the work in which the members and the leaders of UMNO are doing is not going to make them taqwa. In my opinion, in case UMNO wanted to remain relevant and alive in this world, they have to bring into UMNO the leader who has taqwa. Would it will be possible to bring a leader with taqwa into UMNO? Is there a person with taqwa in this world? In my opinion it is not true that UMNO will be extinguished from this world because UMNO have the leaders who are old. In my opinion, UMNO will become old and finally die because there is none in UMNO who is having the quality of taqwa. The love of this material world has caused the members of UMNO to disobey the order of Allah and caused UMNO to become old and finally made UMNO to be extinguished from this world.

Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
October 2013
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre