Fatwa mesti berdasarkan realiti, kata Dr Mahathir

 

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Former Umno president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today reiterated his call for Selangor Umno to be dissolved and restructured, despite a rebuff from its current state chief Datuk Seri Noh Omar.

Dr Mahathir said when individuals have been around for a while and lost the trust of the rakyat, then it was time to step down and hand over the reins.

Malaysia's longest serving prime minister of 22 years said he was an example and stepped down and passed the baton.

"That is the way of a leader, wanting to be a lifetime leader would be a problem," Dr Mahathir said today at the Seri Pacific Hotel after officiating the 2014 Kuala Lumpur Summit.

Noh, the Selangor Umno liaison chief, hit back at Dr Mahathir last week, asking him to explain Umno's image as a corrupt party and when the public began associating it with graft.

‎"We're not saying that it began with him, (even though) he was the party president. But when did people begin to label Umno as a corrupt party. During whose era did this begin?" he asked after Dr Mahathir’s blog post calling for the revamp of the Umno state unit.

On November 5, Dr Mahathir said in his blog chedet.cc that Umno‎ must shed its reputation of being a corrupt party and that its leaders had to lead a moderate lifestyle.‎

He also took aim at Selangor Umno leaders, saying they should resign and the party should restructure the entire Selangor chapter following disappointing results in the past two general elections.

But Noh demanded more specifics from Dr Maha‎thir and wanted to know to which leader in Selangor Umno he was referring.‎

"‎How can they step down? Everyone in Selangor Umno is a district chief, and they were elected by the party during the general assembly," said the Tanjong Karang MP.‎

‎“If he's referring to me, I have never lost. My majority is increasing. So who is he referring to specifically?‎"‎

‎Noh told The Malaysian Insider that while Selangor Umno welcomed any criticism from Dr Mahathir, the call for its leaders to step down was subjective.

Dr Mahathir had also accused Selangor Umno leaders of being more interested in strengthening their position instead of the party.‎

"Today, even if we wanted to choose a candidate for the position of state menteri besar, there are no suitable candidates," said Dr Mahathir.

"This would not be an issue if Selangor Umno was prepared to accept new members but it will not happen as Selangor Umno leaders are afraid of being challenged.‎

"They are afraid that the entry‎ of fresh members might cause them to lose their positions or not be nominated to stand as candidates in the general election."

‎But Noh denied this and claimed that the Selangor chapter was always open to new members.

"I want to tell him, be more specific. We in Selangor‎ are open to all. When did we ever stop anyone from joining?

"If he can be specific (and tell us) which Umno member was rejected, then we will know. As far as we know, we are open to everyone."

‎Dr Mahathir said Selangor Umno also needed to do a lot more to attract Malay youth to join the party, including getting closer to those who are anti-Umno.

His criticism came after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said how embarrassed, tired and humiliated he was that Barisan Nasional (BN) was the opposition in Selangor.
Najib told his party colleagues that they should work hard and make an effort to woo Selangor voters back to the party.‎

In the 13th general election last year, Selangor BN suffered its worst defeat, winning only five parliamentary seats – Sabak Bernam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Tanjong Karang and Sungai Besar – and eight state seats – Sungai Air Tawar, Sungai Panjang, Semenyih, Dengkil, Jeram, Bukit Malawati, Sungai Burong and Permatang. – November 11, 2014.