KUALA LUMPUR: Umno will suffer another defeat in the 15th general election if the party remains in denial of 1Malaysia Development Berhad's (1MDB) controversy and outcome.
In asserting their opinion, two Umno leaders - BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz and Johor Umno treasurer Datuk Jais Sarday - today came in defence of the party's former Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who voiced a terse disagreement with Datuk Seri Najib Razak on the reason behind Umno's loss in GE14.
Khairy in a tweet had said: "We lost because of 1MDB. The end".
It was in response to Najib's claim during a dialogue at Putra World Trade Centre yesterday, in which he had reportedly said that Umno and Barisan Nasional's defeat was due to "fraud, defamation, and most importantly, we lost because of false promises" presumably doled out by Pakatan Harapan.
In response to Khairy, Nazri was quoted in a report agreeing that BN had lost due to the 1MDB controversy.
“I agree with YB Khairy (Khairy Jamaluddin). The scandal happened and the Cabinet only knew about all the decisions after the issue exploded in the media,” the former tourism minister said.
The Padang Rengas member of parliament said Cabinet members had supported Najib at the height of the controversy earlier, because they were informed that the issues could be solved.
“That is why we defended it. We also did not find out until the issue was out in the news and became bigger in public.
“We lost not because people rejected us, but because of 1MDB.
“We cannot be in denial," said Nazri as he was quoted as saying.
However, Khairy's tweet drew the ire of Umno supreme council member and Najib's staunch supporter Datuk Lokman Adam, who turned to describe the former as "stupid".
"What to do, at that time @NajibRazak had a stupid youth chief that never make any attempt to study about 1MDB and explain it to the public. He only knows how to choose the right colours of his socks," tweeted Lokman.
Despite Lokman's fervour, Jais came to Khairy's defence and said even Utusan Malaysia's editorial writer Awang Selamat had rebuked Najib over the source of monies that made way into the former prime minister's personal account.
"Not only @Khairykj, even Awang Selamat said the same thing. If this denial continues to persist, Umno will suffer that same fate in GE15 (as with GE14).
"To all of those who are up there (Umno top leadership), listen to the people's voice out there. Although they love Umno, they are demanding for wisdom and transparency (in charting the party's direction."