Young, better educated face obstacles joining Umno, says Dr M

KOTA KINABALU, Nov 14 — Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said it is not true that the young generation is no longer supporting Umno, it is just that they are facing obstacles to join the party.

He said that because many of them were highly qualified, they were not accepted as branch members because some of the existing branch leaders feared that their position might be in jeopardy.

“Now many Malays have (university) derees and this is a challenge to the branch heads. They fear that they may be toppled and replaced by those with better education.

“Once they have gained the post of branch heads, they refuse to let go. That’s why if there are people with slightly better qualifications or are graduates, they won’t be allowed into the branch,” he said at a gathering organised by the three Umno wings in Sabah, namely the Youth, Wanita and Puteri wings.

Dr Mahathir said if they were to look at the opposition party, PAS, they were previously represented only by the ulama, but today they had engineers, doctors and others with high qualifications.

He said the dilemma faced by Umno now was that participation in the party was no longer seen as a struggle for the people and country like the past leaders who had fought for the country’s independence, the struggle today was to secure position and gain power for themselves.

He said this had led to money politics coming into play every time there was a party election whether at the divisional or Supreme Council level. — Bernama