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United Malays National Organisation

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of Asia

   The United Malays National Organisation, or UMNO, ( Malay: Pertubuhan
   Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu), is the largest political party in Malaysia
   and a founding member of the Barisan Nasional coalition, which has
   ruled the country uninterruptedly since its independence. It is known
   for being a major proponent of Malay nationalism or the ketuanan Melayu
   and some Islamic ideology, which holds that the Malay people and other
   Muslims are the "definitive" people of Malaysia and thus deserve
   special privileges as their birthright.

Early history

   After the British returned to Malaya in the aftermath of World War II,
   the Malayan Union was formed. However, the Union was met with much
   opposition due to its constitutional framework, which allegedly
   threatened Malay sovereignty over Malaya. A series of Malay congresses
   were held, culminating in the formation of UMNO on May 11, 1946 at the
   Third Malay Congress in Johor Bahru, with Datuk Onn Jaafar as its head.
   UMNO strongly opposed the Malayan Union, but originally did not seek
   political power. In 1949, after the Malayan Union had been replaced by
   the semi-autonomous Federation of Malaya, UMNO shifted its focus to
   politics and governance.

   In 1951, Onn Jaafar left UMNO after failing to open its membership to
   non-Malay Malayans to form the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP).
   Tunku Abdul Rahman replaced Dato' Onn as UMNO President. That same
   year, the Radical Party won the first election in Malaya — the George
   Town municipal council election — claiming six out of the nine seats
   available. However, the following year, UMNO formed an agreement with
   the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) to avoid contesting the same
   seats in the Kuala Lumpur municipal council elections. UMNO and MCA
   eventually carried nine out of the twelve seats, dealing a crushing
   blow to the IMP. After several other successes in local council
   elections, the coalition was formalised as an "Alliance" in 1954.

   In 1954, state elections were held. In these elections, the Alliance
   won 226 of the 268 seats nationwide. In the same year, a Federal
   Legislative Council was formed, comprising 100 seats. 52 would be
   elected, and the rest would be appointed by the British High
   Commissioner. The Alliance demanded that 60 of the seats be elected,
   but despite the Tunku flying out to London to negotiate, the British
   held firm. Elections for the council were held in 1955, and the
   Alliance, which had now expanded to include the Malayan Indian Congress
   (MIC), issued a manifesto stating its goals of achieving independence
   by 1959, requiring a minimum of primary school education for all
   children, protecting the rights of the Malay rulers as constitutional
   monarchs, ending the Communist emergency, and reforming the civil
   service through the hiring of more Malayans as opposed to foreigners.

   When the results were released, it emerged that the Alliance had won 51
   of the 52 seats contested, with the other seat going to PAS (the
   Pan-Malayan Islamic Party, a group of Islamists that split from UMNO).
   The Tunku became the first Chief Minister of Malaya.

   Throughout this period, the Malayan Emergency had been on-going. The
   Malayan Races Liberation Army (MRLA), supported by the Malayan
   Communist Party (MCP), committed acts of terror such as tearing down
   farms, disrupting transportation and communication networks, attacking
   police stations, and so forth. Their stated goal was the end of
   colonialism in Malaya. The British declared the MCP, along with several
   left-wing political groups, illegal in 1948. In 1955, the Alliance
   government together with the British High Commissioner declared an
   amnesty for the communist insurgents who surrendered. Representatives
   from the Alliance government also met with leaders of the MCP in an
   attempt to resolve the conflict peacefully, as their manifesto in the
   election stated. Chin Peng, the MCP Secretary-General, insisted that
   the MCP be allowed to contest elections and be declared a legal
   political party as a pre-condition to laying down arms. However, the
   Tunku rejected this, leading to an impasse.

   In 1956, the Tunku led a group of negotiators, comprising Alliance
   politicians and representatives of the Malay rulers, to London. There,
   they brokered a deal with the British for independence. The date of
   independence was set as August 31, 1957, on the condition that an
   independent commission be set up to draft a constitution for the
   country. The Alliance government was also required to avoid seizing
   British and other foreign assets in Malaya. A defence treaty would also
   be signed.

   The Reid Commission, led by Lord William Reid, was formed to draft the
   constitution. Although enshrining concepts such as federalism and a
   constitutional monarchy, the proposed constitution also contained
   controversial statements protecting special rights for the Malays, such
   as quotas in admission to higher education and the civil service, and
   making Islam the official religion of the federation. It also made
   Malay the official language of the nation, although the right to
   vernacular education in Chinese and Tamil would be protected. Although
   the Tunku and the Malay rulers had asked the Reid Commission to ensure
   that "in an independent Malaya all nationals should be accorded equal
   rights, privileges and opportunities and there must not be
   discrimination on grounds of race and creed," the Malay privileges,
   which many in UMNO backed, were cited as necessary by the Reid
   Commission as a form of affirmative action that would eventually be
   phased out. These controversial measures were included as Articles 3,
   152 and 153 of the Constitution.

   As expected, independence was declared by the Tunku in Merdeka Stadium
   on August 31, 1957, marking a transition into a new era of Malayan and
   Malaysian politics.

Independence, Malaysia and May 13

   In the 1959 general elections, Malaya's first, the Alliance coalition
   led by UMNO won 51.8% of the votes, resulting in 74 out of 104 seats,
   enough for an absolute two-thirds majority in Parliament, which would
   not only allow them to form the government again but amend the
   constitution at will. However, for the Alliance, the election was
   marred by internal strife when MCA leader Lim Chong Eu demanded his
   party be allowed to contest 40 of the 104 seats available. When the
   Tunku rejected this, Lim and his supporters resigned, many of them
   running in the election as independents, which cost the Alliance some
   seats.

   In 1961, the Tunku mooted the idea of forming "Malaysia", which would
   consist of Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei, all of which were then
   British colonies. The reasoning behind this was that this would allow
   the central government to control and combat communist activities,
   especially in Singapore. It was also feared that if Singapore achieved
   independence, it would become a base for Chinese chauvinists to
   threaten Malayan sovereignty. To balance out the ethnic composition of
   the new nation, the other states, whose Malay and indigenous
   populations would balance out the Singaporean Chinese majority, were
   also included.

   After much negotiation, a constitution was hammered out. Some minor
   changes had been made — for instance, the Malay privileges were now
   made available to all " Bumiputra", a group comprising the Malays and
   other indigenous peoples of Malaysia. However, the new states were also
   granted some autonomy unavailable to the original nine states of
   Malaya. After negotiations in July 1963, it was agreed that Malaysia
   would come into being on August 31, 1963, consisting of Singapore,
   Sabah and Sarawak. Brunei pulled out after Parti Rakyat Brunei staged
   an armed revolt, which, though it was put down, was viewed as
   potentially destabilising to the new nation.

   The Philippines and Indonesia strenously objected to this development,
   with Indonesia claiming Malaysia represented a form of neocolonialism
   and the Philippines claiming Sabah as its territory. The United Nations
   sent a commission to the region which approved the merger after having
   delayed the date of Malaysia's formation to investigate. Despite
   further protests from the Indonesian President, Sukarno, the formation
   of Malaysia was proclaimed on September 16, 1963. Indonesia then
   declared a " confrontation" with Malaysia, sending commandos to perform
   guerilla attacks in East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak). The
   confrontation was ended when a military coup replaced Sukarno with
   Suharto. The Philippines, which had withdrawn diplomatic recognition
   from Malaysia, also recognised Malaysia around the same time.

   To reflect the change of name to Malaysia, UMNO's coalition partners
   promptly altered their names to the Malaysian Chinese Association and
   the Malaysian Indian Congress. Several political parties in East
   Malaysia, especially Sarawak, also joined the Alliance to allow it to
   contest elections there.

   In the 1963 Singapore state elections, the Alliance decided to
   challenge Lee Kuan Yew's governing People's Action Party (PAP) through
   the Singapore Alliance Party. UMNO politicians actively campaigned in
   Singapore for the Singapore Alliance, contending that the Singapore
   Malays were being treated as second-class citizens under the
   Chinese-dominated but multiracial PAP government. However, all of the
   UMNO-backed Malay candidates lost to PAP candidates. Angered, UMNO
   Secretary-General Syed Jaafar Albar travelled to Singapore to address
   the Malay populace. At one rally, he called the PAP Malay politicians
   un-Islamic and traitors to the Malay race, greatly straining PAP-UMNO
   relations. The PAP politicians, who saw this as a betrayal of an
   earlier agreement with the Alliance not to contest elections in
   Malaysia and Singapore respectively, decided on running on the mainland
   in the 1964 general election. Although the PAP contested nine
   Parliamentary seats and attracted large crowds at its rallies, it won
   only one seat. Nevertheless, UMNO leaders were furious.

   The strain in race relations caused by the communal lines along which
   the political factions had been drawn led to the 1964 Race Riots in
   Singapore. PAP Malay politician Othman Wok later insinuated that the
   riot had been planned beforehand by Malay " ultras".

   Alliance leaders were also alarmed at Lee's behaviour, which they
   considered unseemly for the Chief Minister of a state; to them, he was
   acting as if he was the Prime Minister of a sovereign nation. Finance
   Minister Tan Siew Sin of the MCA labelled Lee as the "greatest,
   disruptive force in the entire history of Malaysia and Malaya." Lee now
   seemed determined to press forward politically and continue contesting
   elections nationwide, with the formation of the Malaysian Solidarity
   Convention — a coalition of political parties which called for a "
   Malaysian Malaysia" as opposed to one with Bumiputra privileges. The
   spirit of this argument was stated by Lee in Parliament: "Malaysia — to
   whom does it belong? To Malaysians. But who are Malaysians? I hope I
   am, Mr Speaker, Sir. But sometimes, sitting in this chamber, I doubt
   whether I am allowed to be a Malaysian."

   Fed up, the Tunku decided to ask Singapore to secede. After much
   persuasion in the Singapore cabinet, it was agreed, with Singapore
   declaring independence on August 9, 1965. Lee broke down in tears at a
   press conference announcing secession, and the Tunku opened his speech
   in Parliament with the words, "In all the 10 years of my leadership of
   this House I have never had a duty so unpleasant as this to perform.
   The announcement which I am making concerns the separation of Singapore
   from the rest of the Federation." After the separation and independence
   of Singapore in 1965, the Singapore branch of UMNO was renamed the
   Singapore Malay National Organisation (Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu
   Singapura).

   After Singapore's expulsion from the Federation, UMNO focused on
   continuing its policies which would benefit the Malays. One such
   contentious one involved the Malay language, which was the official
   language of Malaysia. UMNO sought to more strongly enforce this, and
   reduce the reliance on English in government affairs. In this, it was
   aided by PAS, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, which backed special
   rights for the Bumiputra, and the strengthening of Islam's position in
   public affairs. However, the PAP's Malaysian branch, which had now
   become a full-fledged party in its own right as the Democratic Action
   Party (DAP), took a strong stance against this, and continued calls for
   a "Malaysian Malaysia", arguing that Bumiputra "special rights" had
   only benefited the Malay elite while ignoring the rural poor. In 1968,
   Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia or plain Gerakan, led by Lim Chong Eu,
   joined the DAP in protesting the Bumiputra rights as well.

   Matters came to a head in the 1969 general election. When polling
   closed on the mainland peninsula (West Malaysia) on May 10, it emerged
   the Alliance had won less than half of the popular vote, although it
   was assured of 66 out of 104 Parliamentary seats available. Much of the
   losses came from the MCA, straining relations between the two parties.
   However, the Alliance was dealt an even larger blow on the state level,
   losing control of Kelantan, Perak, and Penang.

   Selangor — whose Chief Minister, Harun Idris, was perceived as among
   the most radical Malay extremists in calling for special rights — also
   saw its State Assembly evenly divided between the government and
   opposition. To celebrate, the DAP and Gerakan staged a march throughout
   the federal capital of Kuala Lumpur in Selangor. Harun organised a
   counter-rally on May 13 which saw Malays gathered from all over the
   state, armed with parangs ( machetes) and other weapons. Harun and
   other UMNO politicians lambasted the opposition for their "insults" and
   challenging Malay supremacy in government, and stated the counter-rally
   would "teach the Chinese a lesson". The rally erupted into a
   full-fledged riot, with armed Malays looting and burning Chinese shops
   and homes. The Chinese soon fought back, raising the tension. When the
   police arrived, they were outnumbered by the rioters, and were forced
   to call in army units for aid. The predominantly Malay soldiers
   reportedly concentrated on controlling the Chinese rioters. The riot
   lasted for two days, despite the imposition of a nationwide curfew. At
   least 178 were killed in the riot, although some sources have placed
   the figure in the proximity of 1,000 dead.

   The Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) declared a national emergency after
   being advised by the national government. Parliament was suspended,
   with a National Operations Council (NOC) led by Deputy Prime Minister
   Tun Abdul Razak of UMNO, taking over the government. Further polling in
   East Malaysia as a continuation of the general election was also
   postponed indefinitely. Although the Cabinet still met under the Tunku
   as Prime Minister, his role was largely symbolic, with Tun Razak taking
   over the role of chief executive.

   UMNO backbencher Mahathir bin Mohamad, who had lost his Parliamentary
   seat in the election, wrote a scathing letter to the Tunku, criticising
   his leadership. Mahathir stated Mahathir had given "the Chinese what
   they demand...you have given them too much face. The responsibility for
   the deaths of this people, Muslims and infidels, must be shouldered by
   [you]." Mahathir organised a campaign with University of Malaya
   lecturer Raja Muktaruddin Daim to oust the Tunku, circulating his
   letter among the student body of local universities. Mass
   demonstrations broke out, with Malay students calling for a restoration
   of "Malay sovereignty" and the Tunku's oustre. Mahathir also demanded a
   one-party autocracy under UMNO, without an elected Parliament. The
   non-Malay community responded by boycotting Malay business
   establishments.

   After rioting broke out in June, Home Affairs Minister Ismail Abdul
   Rahman and Tun Razak agreed to expel Mahathir and former Executive
   Secretary of UMNO Musa Hitam from the party for breaching party
   discipline. Ismail issued a statement saying "These ultras believe in
   the wild and fantastic theory of absolute dominion by one race over the
   other communities, regardless of the Constitution... Polarization has
   taken place in Malaysian politics and the extreme racialists among the
   ruling party are making a desperate bid to topple the present
   leadership." Nevertheless, the Tunku appeared to devote less time to
   domestic affairs and began making frequent diplomatic excursions.

   The question of whether to restore Parliamentary democracy was
   considered by the NOC; some radical members of UMNO such as Mahathir
   demanded the NOC govern on its own permanently, without Parliament.
   Sources indicate the Tunku and Ismail favoured restoring Parliament as
   soon as possible, while Tun Razak vacillated, eventually agreeing with
   them, provided that more aggressive affirmative action policies be
   implemented. The suspended elections in East Malaysia were held in
   1970, and gave the Alliance government a solid two-thirds majority in
   Parliament again. On August 31 that year, the Tunku announced the
   national ideology — Rukunegara — and his planned retirement as Prime
   Minister in favour of Tun Razak. He also stated Parliament would be
   restored the following year.

   Before Parliament was restored, the UMNO-led NOC illegalised discussion
   on the topic of abolishing the portions of the Constitution dealing
   with Malay rights. The immunity granted to Members of Parliament (MPs)
   that effectively allowed them to speak on any topic without fear of
   arrest was also denied, with the amended Sedition Act covering all
   public discussions. When Parliament reconvened in 1971, Tun Razak
   justified these amendments (which had to be passed by Parliament) by
   stating: "Shall we return to...when, in the name of democracy and
   freedom of speech, irresponsible elements were at liberty to foment and
   exploit racial emotions until we were brought to the very brink of
   national disintegration?" UMNO MPs strongly backed the amendments, and
   they were eventually passed by a vote of 125 to 17, with the DAP and
   People's Progressive Party (PPP) MPs dissenting.

The New Economic Policy

   After Tun Razak succeeded the Tunku in 1970, he began asserting UMNO's
   leadership in the Alliance more strongly. When the Tunku led the
   coalition, he had always consulted Alliance leaders regarding policy —
   if an Alliance leader objected, the policy was not passed. Under Tun
   Razak, UMNO was the base of the Alliance and thus the government. The
   NOC which he led until Parliament reconvened consisted of 7 Malays, one
   Chinese and one Indian; likewise, the only major post in his Cabinet
   held by a non-Malay was that of the MCA's Tan Siew Sin, who was Finance
   Minister. Most non-Malay leaders in the Alliance under Tun Razak were
   appointed to Deputy Ministerial posts, which are not Cabinet-level.

   In Tun Razak's cabinet, the two most powerful men other than him were
   Ismail Abdul Rahman and Ghazali Shafie, who had declared the
   Westminster-style Parliamentary system inappropriate for Malaysia. Tun
   Razak also readmitted to the party "ultras" who had been expelled, like
   Mahathir and Musa Hitam. Mahathir gained notoriety after his expulsion
   from UMNO by authoring The Malay Dilemma, a book promptly banned from
   Malaysia, which posited that the Malays are the definitive people of
   Malaysia, and thus deserved special rights as the sovereign people of
   the nation. It also controversially argued that the Malays needed
   affirmative action to overcome deficiencies in their genetic stock.

   Hussein Onn, son of UMNO founder Dato' Onn Ja'afar, soon became a
   rising star in UMNO. After Ismail died suddenly of a heart attack in
   1973, Hussein Onn succeeded him as Deputy Prime Minister. In the
   Cabinet reshuffle that promoted Hussein Onn, Mahathir was given the key
   post of Education Minister.

   The Tun Razak government announced the New Economic Policy (NEP) in
   1971. Its stated goal was to "eventually eradicate
   poverty...irrespective of race" through a "rapidly expanding economy"
   which would reduce the non-Malay share of the economy in relative
   terms, while increasing it in absolute terms; the net "losses" of the
   non-Malays would go to the Malays, who held only 1.5% of the economy at
   the time of the May 13 riots. The NEP targeted a 30 per cent Malay
   share of the economy by 1990. The government contended that this would
   lead to a "just society" ("Masyarakat Adil"), the latter slogan being
   used to promote acceptance of the policy. Quotas in education and the
   civil service that the Constitution had explicitly provided for were
   expanded by the NEP, which also mandated government interference in the
   private sector. For instance, 30% of all shares in initial public
   offerings (IPOs) would be disbursed by the government to selected
   Bumiputra (most of which are Malay). The old civil service hiring quota
   of 4 Malays for every non-Malay was effectively disregarded in
   practice; between 1969 and 1973, 98% of all new government employees
   were Malay. Five new universities were opened under the NEP, two of
   which were explicitly targeted at the Malays and Muslims; at least one
   ( Universiti Teknologi Mara) remains open only to Bumiputra as of 2006.
   90% of government scholarships for studying abroad were awarded to
   Malays. Hiring quotas in the private sector were also enforced.

   Tun Razak also began shoring up the government by bringing in several
   former opposition parties into the fold of the Alliance. Gerakan, PPP,
   PAS, and several former opposition parties in East Malaysia joined the
   coalition, which was renamed as the Barisan Nasional (National Front,
   abbreviated as BN). BN was formally registered as an organisation in
   1974, the same year in which a general election was held.

   There had been much internal conflict in BN regarding the election; in
   1973, Lim Keng Yaik and several supporters of his aggressive
   pro-Chinese stance, left the MCA for Gerakan. This contributed to
   internal strife, as the MCA was no longer the sole representative of
   Chinese interests in BN.

   The 1974 election was the first under which the national capital, Kuala
   Lumpur, was represented as a Federal Territory instead of as a part of
   Selangor. Critics argued this was effectively a gerrymander giving BN
   an advantage over the DAP, which had strong support from the urban
   population. The DAP and a Gerakan offshoot (Pekemas) which had opposed
   merger with BN were the government's principal opposition, and leaders
   from both parties called on voters to deny BN a 2/3rds Parliamentary
   majority. However, their campaigning was stifled due to restrictions
   prohibiting them from discussing abolition of Malay privileges. The
   eventual results gave the government 135 out of 154 seats in
   Parliament.

   Discontent among student organisations in Malaysian universities soon
   posed a new problem for the UMNO-led government, however. Mahathir in
   his capacity as Education Minister issued a stern warning to university
   students and faculty not to become involved in politics. However,
   amidst allegations that farmers in rural states were starving due to
   government policies, massive student demonstrations were held in
   December 1974. Most of the demonstrators were Malays, and their
   ringleaders, which included Anwar Ibrahim — founder of Angkatan Belia
   Islam Malaysia (the Islamic Youth Movement of Malaysia, or ABIM) — were
   detained under the Internal Security Act, which effectively allows the
   government to detain anyone it sees as a threat to national security
   for an indefinite period. In 1975, Parliament passed amendments to the
   Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) which banned students
   from expressing support of or holding positions in any political party
   or trade union without written consent from the university's Vice
   Chancellor. The act also banned political demonstrations from being
   held on university campuses. In 1976, however, mass demonstrations were
   held at the MARA Institute of Technology, protesting the UUCA. Mahathir
   then threatened to revoke the scholarships of the students, most of
   whom relied on public support to pay their way through university.

   BN was also challenged in Sarawak after the 1974 election, which saw
   the Sarawak National Party (SNAP) led by James Wong become tied with
   the DAP as the most important opposition party in Parliament, both of
   them holding nine seats each. SNAP had campaigned against BN on a
   platform of opposing Chief Minister Abdul Rahman Ya'akub's pro-Malay
   policies, charging them with alienating the rural indigenous natives of
   Sarawak, such as the Iban. SNAP had been expelled from the Alliance in
   1965 for supporting increased autonomy for Sarawak. After the election
   results were released, Abdul Rahman ordered the detention of James Wong
   under the Sedition Act. SNAP elected a new leader, Leo Moggie, who
   secured the release of Wong and the entry of SNAP into BN in 1976.
   However, SNAP's role in the Sarawak government was markedly reduced;
   whereas it had once held the post of Chief Minister, its leaders were
   now allocated minor government posts.

   In Sabah, the Alliance and then BN controlled the state government
   through the United Sabah National Organization (USNO), which strongly
   backed UMNO's pro-Malay and pro-Islam policies. In 1973, Islam was made
   the official Sabah state religion (the official religion of Sabah was
   originally Christianity, as permitted by the agreement signed before
   the merger), and usage of indigenous languages such as those of the
   Kadazan people was discontinued in favour of the Malay language. The
   USNO Chief Minister, Mustapha Harun, was also known for favouring
   political patronage as a means of allocating valuable timber contracts,
   and living an extravagant lifestyle, being ferried to his A$1 million
   Queensland home by jets provided with Sabahan public funds.

   In the 1974 election, Pekemas attempted to contest, eventually winning
   almost 40% of the vote. However, it failed to win any Parliamentary or
   State Assembly seats, with USNO holding onto the state government.

   UMNO's share of votes has steadily declined since the Islamic party's
   (PAS) emergence onto the political scene in the 1990 general elections.

   In the 1999 general election, rocked by the arrest and trial of former
   UMNO deputy Anwar Ibrahim and the subsequent formation of the Barisan
   Alternatif opposition coalition, UMNO's share dipped to 54% of the vote
   and 102 out of 144 seats despite allegations of vote-rigging. But in
   2004 general election, UMNO had a landslide victory and almost
   recaptured Kelantan which has been ruled by the Opposition since 1990.
   This win is the biggest since Independence in 1957.

   The Alliance (now known as the Barisan Nasional) has constantly
   maintained its 2/3rds majority in Parliament since 1969.

UMNO Baru (New UMNO)

   On 24 April 1987, UMNO held its Annual General Assembly and triennial
   Party election. The then Prime Minister and party President, Mahathir
   Mohamad, faced his first party election in 12 years, having been
   elected unopposed every time since the 1975 UMNO election.

   The politics of the Malays, particularly UMNO politics, had undergone a
   sea change in the first few years of the Mahathir stewardship, and the
   incumbent party president was challenged for the second time in 41
   years. The first challenge had been a dull affair in which Hussein Onn
   had been opposed by a minor party official named Sulaiman Palestin.
   (Another President, Tunku Abdul Rahman had also been challenged by one
   C. M. Yusof, later Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, in the
   early 1950s, but the Tunku was then only the care-taker President and
   not properly the incumbent.)

   The 1987 contest was a vastly different matter. Mahathir was opposed by
   his very popular former Finance Minister, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. The
   press took to referring to Mahathir and his supporters as Team A, and
   Razaleigh's camp as Team B. Team B included then Deputy Prime Minister
   Tun Musa Hitam, who was also the incumbent Deputy President of UMNO
   seeking re-election, as well as Datuk Suhaimi Kamaruddin, the former
   head of UMNO Youth and president of the Belia 4B youth organisation.

   Team B was critical of Mahathir's policies, arguing that the Malaysian
   New Economic Policy (NEP) had failed to benefit the poor Malays. It
   also criticised Mahathir's leadership style, alleging he acted
   unilaterally without consulting other leaders in UMNO and the Barisan
   Nasional. Team B was also perceived as less Islamist than Mahathir's
   faction.

   Mahathir claimed that the charges against him were groundless, and
   suggested that his opponents were fracturing Malay unity and were only
   motivated by greed.

   Eventually, Mahathir was returned to office. However, he was elected
   with such a small majority of 43 (761 against 718 votes) that questions
   were immediately raised about his mandate. Team B supporters, many of
   whom had been anticipating a victory of similar margins, suspected that
   the election had been fixed. The Team B candidate for Deputy President,
   Musa Hitam, had also been defeated by Ghafar Baba of Team A, while two
   of the three Vice-Presidents were Team A candidates. The Supreme
   Council comprised 16 Team A candidates and 9 Team B candidates.

   Allegations were made that several delegates who had voted were drawn
   from UMNO branches not properly registered. There were also several
   unproved allegations being bandied about that the balloting process had
   not been above board.

   Nevertheless, Razaleigh pledged to support Mahathir, provided that a
   "witch hunt" was not launched. However, Mahathir promptly purged the
   government cabinet of all Team B members, and launched similar
   reshuffles in state and local governments.

   On 25 June 1987, an appeal was filed by 12 of the UMNO delegates (one
   of whom, Hussain bin Manap, withdrew unexpectedly in August) to have
   the assembly and the election of April 1987 declared null. The
   remaining litigants have since become famous as the "UMNO 11." Although
   Razaleigh and Musa Hitam were not among the plaintiffs, it was widely
   believed that Razaleigh was funding the appeal.

   After a series of interlocutory hearings over the discovery of
   documents that took more than seven months, the matter finally came
   before Justice Harun Hashim in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on 4
   February 1988. The judge ruled that under the existing law he had no
   option but to find the party, UMNO, to be an unlawful society due to
   the existence of several unregistered branches — an illegal act under
   the Societies Act of 1966. The question of the Assembly itself being
   illegal therefore became academic.

   "'It is a very hard decision to declare UMNO unlawful,' said Justice
   Datuk Harun Hashim in his 4 February judgement. 'But the law was made
   by our Parliament and certainly UMNO was aware [of the Societies Act]
   because they were in the majority [in Parliament] at all times [when
   the law was made].' Under the 1966 Act, amended five times over the
   years, and most recently by Mahathir's government, each of the
   society's branches has to register separately with the Registrar...."

   The Tunku and former UMNO President Hussein Onn set up a new party
   called UMNO Malaysia, which claimed to be the successor to the old
   UMNO. UMNO Malaysia was supported mainly by members of the Team B
   faction from UMNO, but Mahathir was also invited to join the party
   leadership. However, the party collapsed after the Registrar of
   Societies refused to register it as a society (without providing an
   explanation).

   Mahathir showed no interest in reviving UMNO, and instead he set in
   motion the machinery to form a new surrogate party, and in due course,
   registered a party formally called Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu
   (Baru) or UMNO (New) a week after UMNO Malaysia's registration was
   rejected. Eventually the suffix "(New)" was dropped, and UMNO (Baru)
   became both the de facto and de jure successor of UMNO (with the old
   UMNO's assets handed over). Most of its leaders, however, were selected
   from Team A of the old UMNO, with Team B ignored.

Post-Mahathir

   After Mahathir stepped down as President of UMNO in 2003, he was
   replaced by his designated successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who by
   virtue of his new position also became Prime Minister of Malaysia. The
   new Deputy President, Najib Tun Razak — the son of Tun Abdul Razak —
   was selected by Abdullah.

   Under Abdullah, UMNO has undergone a number of crises, most notably in
   2006 when Mahathir began actively confronting Abdullah about his
   policies, and campaigned for a position as a delegate to the national
   UMNO assembly so he could earn the right to speak at the floor of the
   assembly.

   UMNO remains a strong influence on Malaysian politics; a number have
   charged that "it is UMNO which wields real power" in Malaysia, instead
   of the Barisan Nasional coalition government. Because allegations of
   corruption have tainted the government, some commentators have
   suggested that "reckless Umno members who have become poster boys of
   excess, insensitivity and the faux pas are seen as the manifestation of
   what is wrong and has gone wrong in a Malay-dominated government."

Ideology

   UMNO sees itself as representing the Malays and Muslims of Malaysia,
   although any Bumiputra (indigenous Malaysian, a category which includes
   people such as the non-Malay and usually non-Muslim Kadazan, Iban,
   Dayak, etc. of East Malaysia) may join the party. UMNO is generally
   regarded as the "protector and champion of ketuanan Melayu" (Malay
   supremacy), which states that Malays are the rulers of Malaysia or
   "masters of this land", as stated by former UMNO Youth Information
   Chief Azimi Daim in 2003.

   In 2004, some delegates at the UMNO Youth assembly went as far as to
   propose a resolution that anyone who left UMNO would be a "traitor to
   UMNO and a traitor to the Malay race". Although targeted at people like
   former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the resolution was
   eventually withdrawn because it would have declared party personages
   such as its founder, Dato' Onn Jaafar, and the first Malaysian Prime
   Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, as traitors to the party and the Malay
   race. When the Tunku became UMNO President, he expressed worry about
   potential lack of loyalty among non-Malays to Malaya, and insisted this
   be clarified before they given citizenship. He also insisted that the
   British return sovereignty of Malaya to the Malays. However, parts of
   his speech would also have clashed with ketuanan Melayu, as he stated
   that "For those who love and feel they owe undivided loyalty to this
   country, we will welcome them as Malayans. They must truly be Malayans,
   and they will have the same rights and privileges as the Malays."

   The Youth wing in particular is known for what some call radical and
   extremist defense of ketuanan Melayu; one opposition journalist has
   contended that all UMNO Youth leaders were "perceived as pro-Malay,
   anti-Chinese in their days". One oft-cited instance of this is a rally
   held by UMNO Youth shortly before Ops Lallang in 1987, where future
   Deputy Prime Minister and then UMNO Youth Chief Najib Razak threatened
   to bathe a keris (dagger) with Chinese blood. At the same rally,
   banners were hoisted carrying phrases such as "revoke the citizenship
   of those who opposed the Malay rulers", "May 13 has begun" (referring
   to the May 13 racial riots in 1969), and "soak it (the keris) with
   Chinese blood".

   In 2005, UMNO Youth Chief Hishammuddin Hussein brandished the keris at
   the UMNO Annual General Meeting (AGM) while decrying critics of Article
   153 of the Constitution of Malaysia and the social contract. Both
   Article 153 and the social contract preserve special privileges for the
   Malays.

   However, more mature politicians occasionally make controversial
   statements as well; at the 2004 AGM, party Deputy Permanent Chairman
   Badruddin Amiruldin waved a book on the May 13 riots while warning
   non-Malays not to stir a "hornets' nest" and cautioning, "Let no one
   from the other races ever question the rights of Malays on this land."

   The 2006 UMNO Annual General Assembly was noted for controversial
   statements made by several delegates, such as Hashim Suboh, who asked
   Hishammuddin when he would "use" the keris; Hishammuddin had again
   brandished the keris at the assembly that year. The assembly was the
   first to have its entire proceedings televised in full. Several
   delegates raised the issue of the Malay Agenda, and called for greater
   enforcement of the NEP. In response to concerns over the racial
   rhetoric, Vice President Muhyiddin Yassin said that "Although some
   sides were a bit extreme [this year], it is quite normal to voice
   feelings during the assembly." The Deputy Chief of the Youth wing,
   Khairy Jamaluddin, insisted that "while there is nothing extraordinary
   about this year’s congress and that similar sentiments have been raised
   in the past, these feelings have never compromised the ultimate
   manifestation of governance in this country through BN’s power-sharing
   formula." Hishammuddin also defended the delegates' actions, saying
   that events earlier in the year related to the status of Islam in
   Malaysia and the NEP had "played on the Malay psyche. If they had not
   been allowed to release their feelings in a controlled channel, it
   could have been even worse." He defended his usage of the keris, saying
   it was meant "to motivate the Malays" and that it "is here to stay",
   denying that it was a symbol of Malay supremacy ( ketuanan Melayu).

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