Malaysia's outgoing prime minister warned Thursday that the ruling party will perish if it continues with its old autocratic ways of silencing critics, jailing opponents and discriminating against minorities."We must come to our senses," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said in a farewell speech to the annual congress of his United Malays National Organization party.
"UMNO faces a life and death situation _ one that concerns our future and survival," he said, delivering a brutally honest assessment about the shortcomings blamed for the party's plunging popularity.
Abdullah, who is the party president, will hand over the position to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak at the end of the congress on Saturday. Najib will also take over the prime minister's job from Abdullah next week in a carefully choreographed power transition aimed at reversing UMNO's reversing fortunes.
UMNO is the centerpiece of the ruling National Front coalition that has governed Malaysia since 1957. But in last year's elections, the National Front failed to get a two-thirds majority in Parliament for the first time in 40 years. It also ceded control of five of Malaysia's 13 states to the opposition.
Much of the voter anger was directed at UMNO, whose leaders are widely perceived as corrupt, power-hungry and inefficient. The party is accused of subverting the judiciary, the police force and the bureaucracy. The Chinese and Indian minorities accuse UMNO of being a racist party that only looks after the interest of the majority Malays.
But even many Malays say the party is only concerned about lining its pockets and is indifferent to the plight of the poor among the community.
"UMNO's glory has dimmed ... Today, everything that UMNO does is seen as wrong, everything that UMNO says is believed to be untrue," said Abdullah.
Najib made similar acknowledgments in his speech to open the congress on Tuesday, but Abdullah's warnings about a dire future were more strident.
"Sadly, there are still those who feel that we do not need to pursue reforms. They believe that UMNO will regain its glory if we revert to the old ways ... by restricting the freedom of our citizens and by silencing their criticism," said Abdullah. "It is a path that I fear will hasten our demise."
Abdullah also urged UMNO to "never adopt racial and religious positions that are extremist."
"UMNO must never practice discrimination to the extent that non-Malays view it as a racist party. The rights of every citizen must always be protected, guaranteed and respected," he said.
Abdullah took power in 2003 amid great hopes he would reform the country's politics, bureaucracy and judiciary after decades of iron-fisted rule by his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad. But Abdullah was largely ineffective during his 5 1/2 years in office, and he indicated in his speech he was shackled by conservatives in the party.
Still, his speech puts a great burden on his successor Najib, who himself is tainted by allegations of corruption, which he denies. He is also accused of having links to the murder of a Mongolian woman. He denies having ever met her.
Abdullah, however, expressed full support for Najib.
"I believe that I am passing on the reins to a younger captain to steer the ship; a younger leader who has the maturity and experience to navigate the nation to greater heights," said Abdullah.
Najib's immediate test would come later Thursday when his allies contest the post of party deputy president and vice presidents.
Once he takes over as prime minister, Najib will have to contend with three by-elections seen as a referendum of his leadership. He also will have to deal with an economy facing an almost certain recession.
Malaysia's central bank said Wednesday it expected exports _ the main pillar of the economy _ to fall by a quarter this year.
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