BN planning for the future, says Najib

By Shannon Teoh

July 22, 2011

Najib told residents of the Subang parliamentary constituency today that PKR were willing to sacrifice the long-term interests of the country to gain votes. — Picture by Shannon Teoh

SUBANG PERDANA, July 22 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak told local residents here that Barisan Nasional (BN) was protecting the long-term interests of the public and not simply squandering resources for the sake of winning elections.

With expectations growing for a general election to be called within the year, the prime minister said that the ruling coalition did not make populist promises unlike the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact.

“We make realistic promises. We don’t say, today we take power, tomorrow, oil prices will come down,” the BN chief said, referring to the oft-repeated promise made by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Speaking to nearly 1,000 residents within the Subang parliamentary constituency held by Anwar’s PKR, the Umno president also said that when the opposition “gives RM100, satu kampung riuh (the whole village goes wild).”

“Just to gain votes, they are willing to sacrifice the long-term interests of the country. This party only wants popularity but then the public will suffer.

“We give billions! Our fight is much bigger, they just bang their drums louder,” he said after reminding the audience of the government’s commitment to subsidising basic goods, including 80 sen for each litre of petrol.

Najib, who had just arrived home this morning from a series of diplomatic visits abroad, said that his administration gave due consideration to current issues but also made plans to ensure the nation’s future was not derailed.

He cited, as an example, his stop in Turkmenistan during his overseas trip, saying it was due to national oil company Petronas’s investment of over RM15 billion to tap into natural gas in the Caspian Sea.

“If we run out of local fuel in the future, then at least we have invested overseas and can meet some of our own demand,” he said this afternoon in the constituency of over 100,000 voters.

A report by a research firm today said that an estimated increase of 3.2 million new voters by the first quarter of 2013 could make the outcome of the next general election highly unpredictable.

Research house Nomura said that the huge increase was very significant given the narrow popular vote margin of just 384,688 votes to BN.

This was not enough to secure BN its customary two-thirds majority of Parliament as it ceded five state governments and 82 parliamentary seats in its worse electoral showing ever during Election 2008.

PKR de facto leader Anwar also told the Associated Press this week that the government’s clampdown on the July 9 Bersih rally for electoral reform had given his coalition the momentum to take over federal government in the next federal polls.