‘Umno’s beauty is its embrace of diversity’: Malaysia’s biggest party meets amid divisions over backing PM Muhyiddin
- All eyes on Umno’s annual general meeting this weekend, with analysts looking to see whether it will keep supporting the embattled Perikatan Nasional alliance
- Influential youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki has dismissed talk of fission, though there is a faction still loyal to Muhyiddin
Yet there is a palpable sense of an uptick in political activity across the country as heavyweights begin planning for the impending polls.
This weekend, the nation’s eyes will be on the annual general meeting of the grand old dame of Malaysian politics, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno).
The conclave, to be held with pandemic restrictions and with only senior leaders attending, is of particular interest to observers given questions about Umno’s strategy for the polls. It is the biggest party in Muhyiddin’s ruling Perikatan Nasional alliance, but there is sharp division over whether that status should continue.
One faction, comprising current Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his key ally, ex-prime minister Najib Razak, is believed to prefer to go it alone at the polls – with the hope that the party can regain its status as Malaysia’s undisputed No 1 political force.
