Kuala Lumpur May 9 — UMNO should do away with the tradition of having the party president installed as the country’s prime minister,” said Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
The Umno advisory committee chairman told The Malaysian Insight he agreed with Umno Johor Baru division chief Shahrir Abdul Samad that the practice of having the party president as the automatic choice for the prime ministerial candidate should be done away with.
“Many developed countries such as Britain and the United States have prime ministers and presidents that don’t lead their parties.
“The party president’s job is to uphold the party’s struggles and promote the party ideology, while the prime minister or president is to lead the country,” said the 84-year-old Umno veteran, who is also Gua Musang lawmaker.
He said the age-old tradition of having the party president become the prime minister is over.
“We want people who are capable, have calibre and can be the pride of Malaysia. This person must be someone who can take the country to greater heights.
“There’s no point in having a prime minister that is popular in the party but has (a) bad record… and cannot be a role model for the country,” said Umno veteran popularly known as Ku Li.
Shahrir told a forum last week that Umno must break away from the tradition of limiting its prime ministerial candidate to the party president, adding the party should drop its “one-man show” concept where power is centralised.
He said this was crucial as the party will soon be going into an election and there does not appear to be a consensus on who ought to be a candidate for prime minister.
On the same note, Ku Li said Umno should also end the practice of selecting candidates from the party hierarchy.
“We have to train our leaders to accept this and not hang on to old traditions. What the country needs is better quality lawmakers,” said the former Umno vice president.
Ku Li said although he was previously vice-president without any government positions, he had helped the government.
“I was sent to discuss issues with China a few times but I was not appointed to a government position, although I was vice-president,” said Tengku Razaleigh.
