Can Mohamad Hasan steer UMNO's electoral victory?

THE recent appointment of the deputy president of UMNO Mohamad Hasan as the party's new election director seems being lauded by many, including those who are politically independent.

When the Perikatan Nasional government was formed last year's March, the former chief minister of Negeri Sembilan was highly expected to be a cabinet minister with senatorship, but his name was not in the prime minister's choice.

His boasted "corporate mind" image has been pulling people's trust towards his leadership in steering UMNO's reinvigoration in the keenly-awaited 15th general election.

In a recent Facebook post made by the party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, he aspires that UMNO would shine again if the people could give chance to the party to be the government through the ballot box.

From my frank perspective, the appointment of Mohamad Hasan or familiarly called "Tok Mat" as the party's head of election could be impactful for the party's future if he could formulate a recipe of winning the urban seats.

Especially in Negeri Sembilan, the state he led for more than 10 years as a chief minister, winning the parliamentary seats like Seremban and Rasah should be focused in his plan to prove his credibility as the electoral director.

In the last general election that unseated him from the chief ministership, the state's Barisan Nasional was defeated in 20 state seats and 5 parliamentary seats, including Port Dickson and Kuala Pilah. The unprecedented defeat should not be repeated and has to be mended with sensible strategies that can win the voters' hearts back.

Leading a profit-oriented organisation doesn't have much difference than heading a political party's electoral direction, and I believe Tok Mat has admitted to the fact. Having strategies to win votes needs an experienced man like him to find the right key to regaining the trusts of the urban electorates.

Besides Negeri Sembilan, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor's parliamentary seats should also be in the plan of re-winning. Potential seats like Setiawangsa could not be given up to other political rivals, especially the incumbents.

The officially-registered Pejuang could be the possible competitor against UMNO in the GE15. Muda, whose registration is yet to be confirmed, is expected to contest in all 11 Kuala Lumpur seats if it doesn't affiliate with the incumbents' political pacts.

As many political observants said, freshly-formed parties like Muda and Pejuang must never be underestimated as it could potentially pull votes from urban voters.

Even Warisan, which is expanding its political empire beyond the Borneo state of Sabah, could be competitive in its maiden electoral appearance of GE15 in the Peninsular.

Such challenges that would be faced by the UMNO's election director will surely gauge his true ability in achieving electoral victory for the party he has been a member for decades.

Contesting in the Rembau parliamentary seat, as he announced earlier, may be the best thing to do for his political career, and that, as I foresee, could inspire winning factor for UMNO as a whole as long as the party is willing to give way to more young, hopeful and reliable faces to be candidates in offering delightful comparative advantages against its political opponents.

When the country's political landscape is now being competitive, the long-surviving political party's reinvigoration in GE15 is excitingly awaited with Tok Mat sailing the ship towards achieving it.

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* Amerul Azry Abdul Aziz is an independent writer who now views politics as something that can be researched.

** The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of Astro AWANI.