United Malays National Organisation (UMNO)
통일말레이국민조직
A conservative and Malay nationalist party in Malaysia. Founded in 1946 against the British Malayan Union, it led the Barisan Nasional coalition and its predecessor the Alliance Party, which governed from the independence of Malaya in 1957 until the 2018 election; every prime minister in that period was also president of UMNO. It promotes Malay privileges and Islam, and Mahathir Mohamad led the party and the government as its president from 1981 to 2003.
In depth
The Malayan Union that the British set up after the Second World War met strong opposition for allegedly threatening Malay sovereignty. After a series of Malay congresses, UMNO was founded with Onn Jaafar as leader at the Third Malay Congress in Johor Bahru on 10 May 1946. It strongly opposed the Malayan Union but at first did not seek political power and played a supporting role to the British colonial administration. In 1951 Onn Jaafar left UMNO after failing to open its membership to non-Malays.
The Alliance led by Tunku Abdul Rahman won 74 of 104 seats in the 1959 election; Malaysia was formed in 1963, and Singapore left in 1965. After the Alliance won less than half of the vote in the 1969 election, a major riot broke out on 13 May. Mahathir, a backbencher who had lost his seat, criticised the Tunku's leadership and was expelled from the party. The Tunku's successor Abdul Razak announced the New Economic Policy in 1971, aiming at a 30 percent Malay share of the economy, readmitted expelled "ultras" such as Mahathir, and widened the Alliance into the Barisan Nasional.
Mahathir, prime minister from 1981, narrowly won the 1987 party presidential election against Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah by 761 votes to 718. When a court declared UMNO an unlawful society in February 1988 because of unregistered branches, Mahathir registered "UMNO (New)", which took over the old party's assets and became its legal successor. With the dismissal, expulsion and trial of deputy president Anwar Ibrahim from 1998, UMNO's share fell to 54 percent in the 1999 election. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi succeeded as president in 2003 and Najib Razak in 2009, but amid the 1MDB scandal the party lost power for the first time in the 2018 election. Its constitution names as its objectives Malay nationalism, Ketuanan Melayu ("Malay supremacy") and the recognition of Islam as the religion of the federation.