Umno an ultra-populist democratic party: Salleh (Updated)

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno has remained sturdy for 72 years and has become the world's longest-ruling party because of its ultra-populist nature, said Umno treasurer Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak.
He said Umno was sensitive to the needs of the people, understood the aspirations of the people, maintained good relations with component parties, protected the people of all races, helped the poor, and took care of the people's welfare.
Salleh, who is Communications and Multimedia Minister, said Umno today was a great party that would ensure that the Malays would not disappear from the face of this earth and that they would remain progressive.
"All these can be achieved because Umno under the current leadership is an ultra-populist democratic party with the undivided support of the majority of the Malays and Malaysians," he said in a post on his blog.
He said that under the leadership of Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak as the president, Umno had become better.
"Its leadership is democratic and Islamic because Najib can accept political differences and never has there been in his leadership record of people having been killed or injured because of party differences," he said.
Salleh said Najib also led in the Islamic way because he was prepared to set aside political differences with PAS in the interest of Islam, and established good relations with the Kelantan PAS government for the well-being of Malay Muslims in that state.
"He also introduced the Syariah Index, the first of its kind in the world, to evaluate and gauge the seriousness of the government in achieving the five aspects of the Maqasid Syariah, namely preservation of religion, preservation of life, preservation of intellect, preservation of lineage, and preservation of wealth.
"This effort of the government showed that the Syariah Index Score for Malaysia in 2017 was 76.06%, higher by 0.64% compared to the score in 2015, which was 75.42%," he said.
Salleh also said that under the leadership of Najib, Umno better safeguarded the Malay Rulers and championed the Malays and Bumiputeras. — Bernama