Badawi slammed the party's money politics

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, who is also Umno deputy president, was addressing the party's women and youth wings ahead of Thursday's Umno general assembly in Kuala Lumpur.

His remarks have underlined the dilemma shaking a once all-powerful organisation suddenly facing a crisis of confidence.

The party's majority was hacked away in the 1999 general election and it has suffered further electoral blows since.

Dirty politics

Mr Badawi's speech was, in essence, a call to arms, directed at a party which, as he put it, had to be rescued from the cancer spreading through its ranks.

The disease is what in Malaysia is known as money politics.

Over long decades, many of Umno's members have ruthlessly exploited the opportunities of patronage and commercial enrichment that the party's virtually unchallenged grip on power made available to them.

It has been an open secret that at lower levels, Umno officials would bribe their way to elected office in order to gain access to lucrative business contracts and other deals.

Such practices were tolerated during Malaysia's boom years of the 1980s and early 90s.

Revenge

But since the Asian financial crisis of four years ago, the corrupt ways of the Umno chieftains has been gleefully attacked by a revitalised opposition, and a disgruntled electorate has started to take revenge.

Mahathir will address the conference on Thursday

Since the 1999 general election, in which Umno saw its parliamentary majority reduced, the party has suffered one humiliating by-election defeat, and nearly lost another seat as well.

Mr Badawi told the assembly that if the situation was not addressed, Umno, which has maintained a monopoly on power for more than 40 years, would become weak and impotent.

Last week, six senior officials were stripped of their party posts and others have been suspended.

The assembly will be watching Thursday's address by the party leader and prime minister, Doctor Mahathir, for indications as to whether Umno's internal blood-letting is to go further still.