MAY 12 — United Malaysians National Organisation.

Without this, all else is meaningless. When all the traditional political promises of clean governance and an inclusive, just society have been co-opted and ascribed by the people to the other side, what remains for Umno and BN?

The fact that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has already signalled a strengthening of Malay rights and a continuation of an openly racist and regressive style of governance provides a glimmer of an opportunity to the left of the leadership of PPBM in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.

A truly egalitarian, colour blind, secular party that is committed to social and economic justice, one that champions the cause of the underdog and that acknowledges its past mistakes while learning from them could pose a real challenge to the new incumbents in Putrajaya.

The fact that MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PPP etc. have been shown the door by voters should help the process of uniting all of these under the Umno for Malaysians umbrella. 

It goes without saying that for the "new” Umno to be credible, there needs to be a purge of its current senior leadership that is widely seen as being complicit in the various alleged acts of corruption and bad governance over the last decade. 

PH is untested in terms of governance and is in power largely because of an anti-BN wave. It will make mistakes and will suffer from the pressure of stratospheric expectations put on it by a populace thirsting for change. This is where the opportunity lies.

The "new” Umno needs to go back to voters with humility but a sense of belief that it has been an integral part of a lot of the nation building of the last 60 years. 

It still has very strong support in many parts of the country, and it needs to reiterate that Tun M did not build this country by himself. It needs to spend the next five years reforming itself while playing the role of an effective check and balance to the missteps of the coalition in power.

Possibly the only one of the current crop of leaders that could accomplish this difficult challenge while unifying the various components of BN under one umbrella is the Umno Youth chief, Khairy Jamaluddin. 

He is young, personally popular, well-educated and gracious in defeat. He is not believed to be party to any of the alleged scandals of other leaders and has for the most part avoided race baiting and religious demagoguery. His stewardship of the KL SEA games was competent and showcased Malaysia well.

However, whether it is him or someone else who is up for the challenge, it is by no means going to be easy. Umno is still a very wealthy, powerful organization with very strong entrenched interests that will resist almost all of the ideas suggested above because they threaten and undermine the very basis of their survival within the current system of patronage.

Equally though, this is when the party and the coalition are at their weakest and the time is ripe for someone to take the bull by the horns and create an Umno that is part of the 21stcentury and a worthy opponent to the Pakatan Harapan coalition.

Voters need a credible choice for democracy to work. Can Umno reinvent itself to become one?

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.