Khairy: Umno’s image only restored ‘to some extent’, faces uphill battle to regain trust

KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — Khairy Jamaluddin today said Umno must acknowledge its past mistakes as a party before it can begin rebuilding trust with voters who have turned away from it.

He said the party’s image had improved only “to some extent”.

“I think that we still have an uphill task in trying to recover public support,” he told reporters when met at the Umno 80th anniversary convention here today.

Khairy said Umno must recognise its past failings collectively, while also noting what he described as the party’s wider contributions to the country.

“As a party, we should acknowledge that we’ve made mistakes in the past, but at the same time, we’ve done more good, extremely good stuff for the country compared to the mistakes that we’ve made,” he said.

However, he said acknowledging those mistakes should not be treated as an immediate reset with voters, as public trust could only be rebuilt through further work.

On the current Negeri Sembilan political turmoil, Khairy said it was his view that the most acceptable way to determine whether Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun still commanded majority support was through a confidence or no-confidence vote in the state legislative assembly.

Khairy said that only after such a vote should the next step be decided, whether BN is given the opportunity to form the state government or the state assembly is dissolved.