KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 — Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today reminded candidates for the upcoming general election to "know their place” and recognise that they are not above the party.
In a Facebook post, Zahid said that Umno needs elected representatives who identify strongly with the party, and aren’t easily influenced by external "elements” who supposedly want to plant proxies in the party.
"Anybody big-headed, who feels that he is bigger than the struggle of the party must know their place," he said.
"There are those who only realised after the dissolution of the Parliament that they actually belong to the party, everything they enjoy, including the positions they have held are basically because they are members of Umno, not because they are members or represent the voice of Bersatu, PAS or any other outside party."
"Umno now wants internal stability and to make sure there will be no voices conflicting with Umno that criticises Umno itself after the coming general election,” he added.
In the past year, Umno has faced internal strife, with some top leaders seeming to ally themselves with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and PAS, both former allies that have been designated as rivals in the upcoming election.
Zahid said that this meant that the party’s "Top Five” leaders would take great care in selecting Umno’s candidates.
"God willing, Umno's Top Five will ensure that the candidates chosen later are highly disciplined leaders, not big-headed, brave enough to defend Umno from being belittled, do not speak out against their own leadership, and have strong grassroots support regardless of where they are contesting,” he said.
Umno’s top five leaders are Zahid, deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and its three vice-presidents — Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
The 15th general election will be held on November 19, with candidate nominations to be held on November 5.
