Why so bothered about UMNO? It may no longer be the party of the majority of Malays in Malaysia.

Why are we so bothered about UMNO - United Malay National Organisation, a Malay ethnic political party?

After all, we all know that most Malays today do not anymore support UMNO - their support is now with PAS, PKR , DAP...

How many members do UMNO have really? Some say, once you register as an UMNO member, you never lose your membership even if you do not pay your annual subscription. Even when you die, your name remains in the rolls. How many members? I know UMNO tries to give the impression that it has millions of members - but really how many active members who pay their own annual subscription does UMNO have.

By the way is UMNO members all Muslims? Are they all Malays?

Well, how many Malays are there in Malaysia? Interesting question but very difficult to get the real answer.

Nowadays, they talk only about Bumiputras - and that is Malays plus the natives of Sabah plus the natives of Sarawak plus maybe the 'Indian Muslims of Penang' plus maybe the Eurasian community plus maybe the Thai Malaysians.. well, I really do not know & sadly my quest for this information gave me no definite answers

Number of Malays in Malaysia - CIA World Factbook says

'Malay 50.4%, Chinese 23.7%, indigenous 11%, Indian 7.1%, others 7.8% (2004 est.) - CIA World Factbook

And with regard to religion, the CIA World factbook says:-

Muslim 60.4%, Buddhist 19.2%, Christian 9.1%, Hindu 6.3%, Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions 2.6%, other or unknown 1.5%, none 0.8% (2000 census) - CIA World Factbook, Malaysia

A government census in the year 2005 - showed that with regard to religions practiced in the country (Information obtained from a paper/presentation by Yayasan Kepimpinan & Strategi Malaysia)

Muslim - 57%
Buddhism - 23%
Christianity - 11%
Hinduism - 6%
Confucianism/Taoism/Traditional Religions/Others - 3%

Note that about 50.10% of Other than Malay Bumiputras are Christians, and only about 36.3% are Muslim.

Now since GE2008, UMNO has clearly lost the support of the majority of Malays to PAS and PKR and other Opposition parties, and so what percentage of Malays do UMNO represent today? 10%? 20%? 40%? maybe just 50%...

And are the Malays in UMNO true supporters of UMNO, its principles and values - or are they there just for the 'contracts' and the other 'opportunities/gifts/benefits'?

UMNO tries to propagate the myth that it is VERY strong ...and has the support of the MAJORITY of Malays...etc but really, it is time for us to wake up and realize that UMNO is just another political party - an archaic party - that is about to lie dawn and die, and may be no more come the next General Elections. Media and the 'past' is used extensively to propagate the idea that UMNO is bigger and more important than it really is...That is why...the UMNO assembly is made to be 'BIG' news - and not just the main assembly but also those of its various wings - Wanita (Women), Pemuda(Youth-Male), Puteri (Younger Women) ....and what happened to the Putera (the younger men).

UMNO is really so old-fashioned - and is not only divided by gender - but also age group.

Only the older men will be leaders of the Party.

So, no woman will be President of UMNO - and no woman will be PM of Malaysia. (Hello - we have already had women Prime Ministers/Presidents in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Philippines, - but not in Malaysia)

Which is the party that has the support of the majority of Malays? PAS...PKR....or UMNO. What do you think?