YOURSAY ‘Is Umno a party of dynamic change and renewal, or is it a fossilised party determined to keep incumbents in power for as long as possible?'

Now 'no-contest' proposal for Umno Youth top post

Bumiasli: After the calls for no contest for Umno's top two posts, it is not surprising that there are similar calls for the Umno Youth chief's post.

This is a good move as it protects the posts of Prime Minister Najib Razak, Deputy PM Muhyiddin Yassin and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

But then someone out there will be very disappointed as he may have laid plans to open the way for his son to move up the party hierarchy through the Youth post at least.

Liew Lean Kut: This charade is nothing more than a small group of people who want to monopolise the positions of the top leadership.

Election of leaders is a democratic process of every organisation. To ask members not to contest is nothing more than tyranny, they may as well tell the party grassroots that contest breeds disunity and ask them to let the leaders rule for life.

H Amri: Former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad will not agree to this proposal. His son Mukhriz will want to contest again for the Umno Youth chief's post.

Anywhere else in the civilised world which practices democracy, when a party has performed poorly (by its own set standards), it would be the occasion to look for fresh faces to lead the party.

I guess it's just good luck for Pakatan Rakyat. If it had been other than Najib and MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek or former president Ong Tee Keat, BN would have got more than 50 percent of the popular votes in GE13.

As a Pakatan supporter, I am hoping that Umno will freeze all party positions, from branch level upwards, until after GE14.

Clearwater: Is Umno a party of dynamic change and renewal, or is it a fossilised party determined to keep incumbents in power for as long as possible?

A party of wait-your-turn to get the goodies? It looks like the latter. Even the Youth wing is into the 'no-contest' game.

Headhunter: If their leaders are so good, why are they scared of an election? Unfortunately, Umno leaders don't have an internal Election Commission (EC) to help them, so they have to resort to ‘no-contest' to retain power.

Myop101: They might as well not vote at all, just by selection ala Umno 'democracy'. The former president picks the new president while the rest are selected by the new president through consultation with the former president.

That way everyone will be 'happy' since it is ordained by the 'you-can-do-no-wrong' former president.

Maplesyrup: Mind you, both Najib and his deputy were not elected to their offices. I think it will do the Umno members a big disservice if they are not allowed to make their choice.

There is an GE every five years, and applying the present thinking, Umno officer bearers do not need to defend their positions. Only dead office bearers need to be replaced.

Anonymous_3e06: It is interesting to read that Umno's resolve to strengthen the party is not to have elections. Shouldn't it be the other way around - to strengthen the party is to have elections so that new people with new talents and ideas can be elected to lead?

What Umno actually wants to say is there is internal problems so let's not have an election, otherwise we will lose what we have.

Hang Babeuf: Just pathetic! It goes nowhere near far enough. Let's get serious. I now propose that there be no elections whatsoever in Umno until 2010 - no, just to be sure, until 2050.

That way we can all be sure that election within Umno are in no way related, or sensitive, to patterns of social change and generational succession in the wider society of which Umno is part, and whose affairs it aspires to manage and direct.

Now, if you are thinking about any sort of election moratorium within Umno, this is a serious proposal. The others are just paltry pretenses and excuses for a decisive shut-down of all expression of political choice.

And with it, a new slogan: "Let's keep Umno out of society and wider society out of Umno. Let's keep politics out of politics."

Ketuanan Rakyat: I'm just wondering what the Registrar of Societies (ROS) would do if there were some members who reported to them that Umno avoided having contests for positions and not giving them an opportunity to vote.

Tehachapi: Why not just make every Umno office a life-long appointment so that there is no need for any more elections in the future to divide the solidarity of the party?

As our wise and exceedingly insightful Supreme Leader Mahathir has said, people in Malaysia, including Umno members are ignorant about the functionality and merits of the democratic process, and so the best alternative is not to have an election until the Umno party has solidified all Malay votes under Umno leadership in this country.

Someone from the Wanita branch, please make the proposal not to have any election for the head, deputy head and committee members as well. This is the easiest way to score points.

RakyatBiasa: What kind of party is this, all the posts also don't contest "in order to strengthen the party"? It just simply goes to show what a weak party Umno is from its president to Youth chief and Wanita chief aka cowgirl Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

DontPlayGod: Yes, better don't have any elections for any posts. Just appoint them. I believe Umno would like Parliament to do just that too.

No more GEs so that Umno can rule forever. In other developed countries, the president or PM can stay in that post for only two terms, even in China.

So, too in Russia, United States, Iran, etc. But not in Malaysia, where the PM can stay for 22 years or more if he wishes.

Sinner: Weird type of democracy. Sounds more like dicta-cracy.

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