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Umno today - influential, irritated and beset by infighting

It craves the power it once had, but its multiple factions cannot decide how to achieve it

Umno members at the party's general assembly last year, when it was in the political wilderness after its defeat in Malaysia's 2018 General Election. While immeasurably better than being in opposition, Umno's current position in the Perikatan Nasional administration is rather unfulfilling, says the writer, as its leaders are denied key Cabinet portfolios and bypassed for chief ministerships. PHOTO: BERNAMA

Francis E. Hutchinson For The Straits Times

Updated

Published

Oct 19, 2020, 05:00 AM

These days, members of Malaysia's pre-eminent party, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), are feeling hot and bothered.

Following a period in the wilderness after its 2018 defeat, the party was brought into the governing coalition in late February after the infamous "Sheraton Move", a backroom manoeuvre that led to the ousting of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.

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