The Umno president’s first two messages for his party grassroots to take home represent the party's hopes to get back flagging support among urban Malay Muslims and check the influence of its main political rival, PAS.
The first was that the party was taking back the mantle of “true defender of Islam” from PAS.
The second was that the party was going full steam ahead with its Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Agenda, which seeks to serve the interests of Malay-Muslim businessmen.
The second message is easily understood. As Datuk Seri Najib Razak has declared time and again, Umno has increased its support among Malay Muslims.
The Barisan Nasional, which Umno leads, was returned to federal power by a combination of votes from Malay Muslims, Sabahan and Sarawakian Muslims and non-Muslim Bumiputera.
And then in his speech at the start of the assembly, he said those two communities make up 67% of the population.
So by simple math, if Umno and the BN can harness the support of at least 60% of them, it can return to power in the 14th general election.
As was repeatedly said by the party’s grassroots, and reaffirmed by Najib during the assembly, these are their hardcore supporters.
To increase its support among urban Malay Muslims, Najib himself said that he will personally see to it that the CEOs of government-linked companies help Malay Muslim contractors and vendors.
“They will be getting a KPI on this and they will have to submit report cards on how they have met their targets,” said Najib to rapturous applause from the audience at the assembly.
The first message, on the other hand is more subtle in its aim but has a far reaching impact.
A slew of the party’s grassroots leaders took to the stage to demand that the authorities persecute Shia Muslims, homosexuals, liberals and anyone it thinks has insulted Islam.
They also wanted the government to enforce the ban on the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims.
They even wanted the Federal Constitution to be amended to declare that the official religion of the federation was the Sunni branch of Islam.
Najib did not go this far, saying only that the party’s constitution would be changed to say that Umno only recognises Sunni Islam.
He then told the crowd that Malaysia, as a moderate Muslim nation, has been acknowledged by well-known Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas.
Umno’s religious credentials, he claimed, was also acknowledged by the imam of the Al-Haram Mosque of Mecca, Syeikh Dr Khalid Ali Al-Ghamdi. The mosque is a revered site in the Muslim world.
A party insider said that the strong stance on Islam was to capitalise on PAS’s internal rifts which have seen it sending mixed messages on religious issues, notably the spread of Shia Islam and the Allah issue.
PAS’s views on matters related to Islam are often sought by Malaysian Muslims who believed it is a more trustworthy authority compared to Umno, said the party member who declined to be named.
But because PAS leaders have sent conflicting messages about the Allah issue in the run-up to the general election, it was seen as playing politics with religion.
The same thing occurred during its own party elections where rivals would label each other as Shia. PAS has been unable to give a consistent view on the issue of Shia Islam in Malaysia, a subject that is already generally misunderstood by many Malaysian Muslims.
“PAS has shown that it is compromising on Islamic matters because it wants to win votes,” Umno supreme council member Datuk Seri Idris Haron said.
“This is where Umno has to step in and show we will not compromise on matters related to Islam,” Idris, who is also Malacca Chief Minister, added.
Talking up its religious credentials also makes sense for Umno as its internal studies show that more and more Muslims, old and young, are seeing themselves as Muslims first, Malays second.
Yet for all the bluster about the state of the Malay economy and Islam, there are still bread and butter issues that Umno has to tackle if it is serious about wanting to regain lost seats.
Of particular importance, says Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, is the rising cost of living and pricey houses that are hurting young people.
Khairy has been the lone voice urging the leadership to act on government corruption and wastage as seen in the Auditor General’s report every year.
He feels that the government must do more to rein in uncontrolled spending and corruption if it wants to win the youth vote.
“If you want the youth to tighten their belts, you have to also show that the government is going to do the same.”
Going after Shia Muslims is an important concern, he says, but so is stamping out corruption and wastage of public funds.
“Otherwise, no matter what we say in the assembly next time, the youth, especially, will not vote for us.” - TMI