Mazlan Ali of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) said Umno viewed its position in the unity government as a strategic necessity to restore the party’s strength and ensure political stability.
He said Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s remarks yesterday that Umno would remain with its unity coalition partners until Parliament is dissolved demonstrated the party’s commitment to remaining in the government.
“This effectively makes the suggestion by the Umno Youth chief for the party to leave the government almost impossible to implement at present.
“When the youth wing pushed the narrative of leaving the government through its special convention, the top leadership clearly did not support it and regarded it as Akmal’s personal view.”
Mazlan said when certain quarters in Umno cited statements by DAP leaders to justify opposing the unity government, they were merely expressing personal opinions which did not reflect the party’s official stance.
“It’s just politicking. It should not distract Umno from its focus on supporting the government,” he said.
He said Akmal must also accept the reality that reviving forms of cooperation such as the Muafakat Nasional pact with PAS was nearly impossible and lacked support from the majority of Umno’s top leaders.
“Such cooperation also carries the risk of internal competition over seats,” he said.
Mazlan also asked why only Umno’s youth wing had been vocal about leaving the government, while the party’s Wanita and Puteri wings had not supported this stance.
“This suggests that the push is more personal than a collective party position,” he said, adding that Akmal appeared to be operating outside of Umno’s mainstream.
He said the 2025 Umno general assembly next week would be the real test of support for Akmal’s stance, in the event that he was serious about bringing this push to the next level.
Syaza Shukri of International Islamic University Malaysia said Akmal should read the clear signals from the party leadership that Umno would remain in the unity government and accept the political reality.
“Even if Umno were to leave, the unity government could still survive because Umno holds a small number of seats. So what’s the rationale for leaving just to become the opposition without any guarantee of political gain?” she said.
She said Akmal’s push could be seen as internal pressure, signalling the existence of Umno supporters who were uncomfortable about cooperating with DAP.
Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara said the “Akmal convention” on Saturday appeared heavily biased towards a push for leaving the government without any convincing strategy for how such a move would strengthen the party.
“The focus was more on sensitive issues like Najib Razak’s court cases and the position of Islam and the Malays rather than a plan to strengthen Umno,” he said.
Azmi said Zahid’s stance sent a clear signal that cooperation with PAS or Bersatu was not a beneficial strategy, and included the risk of seat clashes.
“Remaining in the unity government provides a clearer pathway for Umno to rebuild its strength,” he said.