Najib Admits Failures Causing Umno’s Downfall, Says Money Politics Must Stop

The shocking results of GE14 are still fresh in every Malaysian’s mind and former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is definitely one of them.

In an interview quoted by The Star, the former Umno president admitted that he is partly at fault for the party’s downfall at the 14th General Election. He decided to take responsibility of the party’s failures by stepping down as Umno president even though there were a lot of weaknesses at every level of the party.

Source: the star

“It is time to change. We have to choose the best leaders for the party now and not because of benefits. We have to change our values, attitude and approach in order to be respected by the people once again,” he added. 

He felt that Umno’s failure this time might be a test from God so that the party could change their ways. He further stated that if the party wants to really change, money politics should not be part of the normal practice anymore. Najib called for members of the party to be true to Umno’s roots, highlighting that they should make sacrifices and be humble in order to fight for the rakyat. Will he be leading by example?

Source: asian correspondent

“We know that our glory days are over. We lost in the general election even though we spent so much. There were those who sulked when they didn’t get allocations. There were those who did get money but said they didn’t. Then there were candidates who received allocations but did not spend it. How are we supposed to win when our attitude is like that?” he chastised his fellow party members.

According to him, these are examples of the negative attitude that contributed to the party’s defeat. However, the former prime minister also took a few jabs at Pakatan Harapan, accusing them of making false promises which lead to Barisan Nasional’s loss at the 14th General Election.

Source: hornbill unleashed

He said that the rakyat had been cheated as the Pakatan Harapan government did not fulfill their promises. Citing failure to lower petrol prices and not being able to arrange for the 2% Employees’ Provident Fund contribution to housewives as evidence, he said that they had lied to the rakyat.

“I can’t believe people actually fell for that. My disappointment is not because of our agenda but it was due to false promises by them. It is difficult to accept when we did our best for the people with achievable promises,” Najib added.

How long do you think it will take for the opposition to gain back the trust of the rakyat? What can they do to amend broken relationship between Barisan Nasional and Malaysians? Do share your opinions with us.

Also read: Former PM Najib May Be Arrested Next Week