By Neville Spykerman - The Malaysian InsiderKUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 — While welcoming the constitutional changes in Umno, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said the amendments approved this week did not go far enough to check the influence of warlords and the prevalence of vote-buying.
He said the amendment to allow more delegates to vote for office bearers was not enough to check abuses such as vote-buying.
The Gua Musang MP pointed out that he had proposed three years ago that all Umno members be allowed to elect the party president, his deputy, the vice-presidents and supreme council members.
"All members should be allowed to vote not just the delegates, to check the influence of warlords and money politics," he said.
He pointed out that there was no quorum for the annual meetings in many branches because this was not an election year and no money was being handed out.
"The party needs to correct this attitude because the members are motivated by ‘lollies’ and money," he said.
He said Umno must also change the way it selects candidates for elections and should consider emulating the system in the United States where primaries are held.
The system allows members in a particular constituency to select leaders who they know will serve the people, he said.
"Umno should stop the nonsense, where the leadership selects candidates because it did not work during the March general election last year."
He said many previous leaders did not go to their constituencies and only returned when VIPs were around.
At the same time, he said, Umno should not stop at just constitutional reforms but change the attitude of leaders.
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