KUALA LUMPUR – Umnos general assembly this week will be a closely watched affair following its worst-ever general election performance in November, with its leadership seeking to close ranks.

Besides pushing for a constitutional amendment to deter party hopping by elected representatives, Umno president Zahid Hamidi is likely to call for party unity and rally support for his controversial decision to back nemesis Anwar Ibrahim as premier.

But the question for the more than three million members of Malaysias largest and oldest party is not so much whether they should restore unity after more than four years of damaging internal conflict, but under whose leadership and which direction.

The partys annual congress from Wednesday to Saturday, held after a delay since 2022, comes ahead of leadership polls that must be held by May.

In approval surveys during the 2022 election campaign, Zahid who is facing dozens of graft charges was often the least popular of several prime ministerial candidates that included Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who was then prime minister.

The initial chorus for Zahid to step down and take the blame for Umno winning just 26 out of Parliaments 222 seats went silent after the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition it leads joined the so-called unity government led by Datuk Seri Anwars Pakatan Harapan (PH).

The move confounded many political observers, as Umno has vilified Mr Anwar and his allies for the past 15 years as being anti-Malay and anti-Islam the majority ethnic group and religion the party claims to represent.

But the move allowed Umno to stay relevant as a governing power and Zahid to become deputy prime minister, despite BNs decimation at the polls. The Umno meeting this week will offer the first glimpse of whether the top 5,000 delegates nationwide believe this comity with PH is able to stem Umnos decline.

We have been thrashed in the last election, Zahid said on Monday in a televised interview. Now we must have self-criticism, not just pointing fingers at one person. Many are responsible. What happened was the heavy cost from the lack of collective unity in spirit and thinking.

Whether the grassroots agree that the party president is not solely to blame will be crucial for the fortunes of Zahids camp which was the key proponent for joining PH and other parties from East Malaysia in government and, by extension, the fate of the Anwar administration. Another faction had preferred the more Malay Muslim-based coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN) whose 74 MPs are the only ones now left in the opposition that Umno had worked with in government since 2020.

BowerGroupAsia political analyst Adib Zalkapli told The Straits Times: Umno is at the stage of managing the biggest change in the partys history. It could even be the start of a permanent relationship with PH, which would be credited to Zahid, whether or not it arrests the partys long, slow decline.

Zahid has been party president since taking over in 2018 from Najib Razak after Umno lost power for the first time in Malaysias six-decade history. The party returned to government in 2020 under Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin after his Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia defected from the PH administration.

At a time of heightened infighting between Zahids camp, which wanted to call early national elections, and those who wanted to remain in power until the end of the five-year parliamentary term, Umno in May 2022 amended its Constitution to allow triennial leadership polls to be postponed by up to six months after a general election.

This ensured that Zahid would not be ousted until after a reconfiguration of Malaysias political landscape, which critics alleged was a cunning move to influence court cases faced by Zahid and others in his faction. Since the election, two former Umno MPs have been acquitted of corruption. More On This Topic Umno will still support Malaysias unity government if Im president: Khairy Umno seeks to curb infighting before party polls Talk of a no-contest motion for the top two party positions appears to have fizzled out, with information chief Isham Jalil pointing out that only an amendment to the party Constitution can prevent a challenge to Zahid and his deputy, Mr Mohamad Hasan. No such resolution is on the agenda for the general assembly.

I feel the power to decide the leadership lies in the hands of our nearly 160,000 representatives nationwide, Zahid said last Thursday, referring to the number of delegates from branches that will be able to vote for both divisional and national leaders.

Some Umno veterans, such as Johor Umno deputy chief Nur Jazlan Mohamed, have warned that all four presidential contests in the partys 70-year history have led to worsening rifts in the party.

Datuk Nur Jazlan said last week: Umno cannot afford to suffer another big split because that would hasten its demise.

But analysts believe the question of unity is only one half of the equation, and if there is no change of guard, then the existing leadership must articulate how the party will reverse its fortunes.

Mr Tan Seng Keat, research manager at opinion pollster Merdeka Center, told ST: Umno is in need of soul-searching and reforms after its worst-ever election result. It also needs a new internal narrative now that it has joined hands with PH.

It needs to showcase its leaderships ability to be nation builders to regain the faith of both the public and its core base, or see the Malay majority continue to slide towards PN. More On This Topic Four years after shock loss, Umno has been battered like never before Interactive: How a divided Malaysia gave rise to Perikatan Nasionals teal tsunami