GE15 defeat on the agenda at Umno general assembly

Umno's performance at the 15th general election (GE15) last November is among the main issues to be discussed at the 2022 Umno general assembly, which will open tonight and continue until Saturday.

Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan said delegates who will participate in the debate session could use it as a platform to convey their views regarding the defeat, as well as suggestions and ways to improve the party's performance which he described as "very unusual".

"We won in seven by-elections and the Melaka and Johor state elections, but why couldn’t we repeat the same victory in GE15? 

"There must be unusual reasons for our defeat until we only manage to secure 30 (parliamentary) seats.

"As such, I want to listen to views, what caused these expected results, and how we can improve for the future," he told a press conference after launching the media centre at the World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur today.

Ahmad said that the general assembly would also focus on the preparations by the largest Malay party to face six state polls as well as the rules for the party election to be held this year.
 
"These matters will begin to be debated tomorrow at three levels, namely Wanita, Youth and Puteri, and on Friday and Saturday, there will be representatives from each state and party wing who, I believe, will also touch on how we can win the election in these six states," he said.

In the meantime, Ahmad said there would be a special closed-door briefing by Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi with 3,000 delegates this afternoon to explain the party’s decision to join the coalition government.

"The president cannot go into detail about the unity government in his policy speech. Therefore, this afternoon he will explain every related issue and why the matter was decided in such a way," he said.