DPM wants election machinery to give undivided support to whoever picked as BN candidate

Posted on March 19, 2012, Monday

UNDIVIDED SUPPORT: Muhyiddin (left) presenting a Barisan Nasional flag to Setiawangsa MP Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique at the launch of the Federal Territory election machinery. — Bernama photo

KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin wants Barisan Nasional (BN) component party machinery to give undivided support to any candidate who stood as BN candidate in the coming general election.

Muhyiddin said this was because the victory of any candidate chosen by the top leadership would depend on the support of the party machinery because what was important is for the party to win no matter who the candidate was.

“When the time comes, the top leadership will decide on who will be the candidate in any designated area. Such a decision is not made hastily, and for sure will be the best choice.

“Even though the area may not be Umno, the victory of our friends in BN will ensure that our party wins. The candidates can be from MCA or Gerakan but we must support anyone standing on a BN ticket and ensure the candidate wins,” he said.

Muhyiddin who is also the Federal Territory BN chairman, was speaking at the launch of the Federal Territory election machinery here yesterday.

Also present was Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and Federal Territory Liaison Committee deputy chairman Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin.

Speaking to more than 3,000 FT Umno members, Muhyiddin said considering the general election would be held soon, the FT election machinery should be activated to gather voters to support BN.

“The important thing in an election is the voters because they will decide our fate. Our past losses maybe because voters see us as not working and did not take proactive steps to protect their interest,” he said.

He believed that the current political scenario favoured BN due to the transformation programmes introduced by the government to help enlighten the burden of the people.

“I am confident of winning a few seats in FT because it is not impossible for us to win in what is considered as black areas..but on condition that we work harder,” he said.

Muhyiddin said FT Umno members would also need to strengthen unity and cooperation to ensure BN victory.

“If there is a problem, we should admit there is a problem and take steps to immediately correct the weakness and put aside all misunderstandings,” he said.

Muhyddin said he had completed his visits to every state to get to know the position of parliamentary and state assembly constituencies for the election.

“We have been given comprehensive reports on the matter and in general the preparation at state and division levels are already in place, I just want to stress that in a few months, we need to update in greater detail, especially the focused areas that we feel we can win,” he said.

When asked on the performance of the opposition after ruling Selangor for four years, Muhyiddin said from the surveys and reports he had received, the people in the state were facing many problems.

He said the opposition was more concerned with politics rather than administration as well as making policy changes that burden the people in the state.

“All efforts by BN through the Federal Government are not beneficial to the people in Selangor. For example I was informed by the director of development division in the Ministry of Education that the opposition did not want to release land for us to build schools. They (opposition) said land is a state government prerogative,” he said. — Bernama