Malaysia:Ku Li seeks policy change

[Harold Schiffman]

Ku Li seeks policy change
By IAN MCINTYRE and C.A. ZULKIFLE
newsdesk at thestar.com.my

GUA MUSANG: Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has proposed three
major policy changes for the party to remedy the electoral setbacks it
suffered in the 12th general election. The first is for Umno to
monitor the role of the Federal Government and its appointed Cabinet
members. The second is to revamp policies which only dwell on
race-based politics so Umno would not be perceived as a party that
only champions the rights of the Malays. The third is to abolish the
nomination quota system.

With Umno monitoring the Government and Cabinet ministers, members
holding government posts cannot become more powerful than the party
that they belong to, he said when opening the Gua Musang Umno division
extraordinary general meeting in Bukit Celati.
"The party must control, monitor and assess the performance of the
Government. If the Cabinet carries out policies which run counter to
Umno policies, the supreme council must be empowered to inquire why.
If the prime minister amends Umno policies and hurts the Malays and
Islam, then the individual can be reprimanded and be disciplined by
the party," said Tengku Razaleigh.

Umno must introduce a suitable mechanism to check the Government, he
added.While calling for Umno to come across as a party which treasures
the interest of all races in the country, he stressed that the party
must also maintain its original struggle of fighting for the Malays,
language and culture. "We must revive the sense that Umno is a
national party which is fair to all people regardless of race or
religion," he added. Tengku Razaleigh said there was now a perception
of Umno breeding corruption or having become an elite party for the
rich only. "All races – and not only Malays – hate such an image, so
Umno must come out with a policy to redeem its image," he said, adding
that the party did badly in the polls not because its policies failed,
but because of its members' attitude. The quota system, he said, might
have had merits earlier but now had reached a stage where it could be
manipulated to prevent contests.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/5/nation/20859933&sec=nation

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of
the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a
message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)
*******************************************