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JOHOR BARU, March 29 — Johor Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (Bersatu) Youth Wing has accused Umno Youth of being hypocrites and unprofessional with its position.
The wing’s state chief Muhd Shamsuddin Paijan claimed that Umno Youth resorted to divisiveness in its agenda instead of empowering Malaysians dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.
He questioned whether Umno was sincere in championing the people after its rhetoric at last Saturday’s Umno Youth policy speech during the party’s 75th annual general assembly.
“The Umno Youth policy speech, which was seen as an agenda to empower the people who are now facing the Covid-19 pandemic, has become a divisive field that they use to hit out as if they are jaguh kampung (village champions in Malay).
“This clearly shows that Umno Youth is not professional in expressing its stand and views,” said Muhd Shamsuddin in a statement issued late yesterday.
He was believed to be responding to Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki’s policy speech that made a veiled swipe at Bersatu and urged fellow Muafakat Nasional (MN) ally PAS to not allow a “third party” to break their alliance.
Muhd Shamsuddin, who was recently appointed as Johor Perikatan Nasional (PN) Youth chief, also questioned if Umno Youth realised that its party was in the federal government and that there were various channels of communication available to it.
He said Umno Youth’s recent remarks and actions made it seem as though it was not connected to the administration.
On Umno Youth’s allegation that the party was being bullied, he argued that it was Bersatu who was the victim of bullying but chose not to make a show of this.
He pointed out that Bersatu did not retaliate when Umno cooperated with rival DAP to oust his party’s deputy president as the mentri besar of Perak.
“Umno was willing to call for the unification of race and religion in the name of ummah, but instead acted to bully Bersatu by casting a vote of no confidence against the party’s menteri besar when the Perak government at that time wanted to present Budget 2021 for the interest of the people.
“This is proof of how hypocritical the Umno Youth chief’s words and actions are, including a handful of key Umno leaders who are among the court clusters that have really showed their opposition to Bersatu,” said Muhd Shamsuddin.
After assessing the current situation, he said Johor Bersatu Youth has agreed to respond to party president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s call to unite against Umno in the next general election.
On Saturday, Muhyiddin was reported to have said Bersatu was prepared to face Umno if the party still wished to contest in all seats in the 15th General Election.
Muhyididin, who is also the prime minister, was also reported to have said that he has no objection if Umno decides to no longer cooperate with Bersatu in the coming polls.
Yesterday, the Umno assembly unanimously adopted a resolution to sever ties with PN but gave no definite timeline for when party leaders serving in Muhyiddin’s administration must withdraw.
Umno nominally supports the ruling PN coalition but is not a component, and has become increasingly hostile to supposed ally Bersatu.