Don’t sabotage if dropped, PM tells BN party members

SEREMBAN - A former Barisan Nasional elected representative who was left out in the recent Sarawak state election deserted the party during the campaigning, coalition chief Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

Relating this incident to remind party members it will not do them any good to sabotage candidates nominated by the leadership, he said “in the recent Sarawak election, one leader who had been an elected representative for three terms packed his things and left for London after he found out he had been dropped.

“I tried to call him several times but never got through to him.”

Najib, who is also Prime Minister, said it was fortunate Barisan was able to retain that particular seat or else he would have confronted the culprit.

He said this when closing the Negri Sembilan Barisan convention here yesterday.

Najib said he had to make this reminder as there had been several instances where those not nominated as candidates had completely deserted the party during the campaigning period.

Citing another example, he said a division secretary who was not nominated to contest a by-election that came after the last general election also refused to help the chosen candidate and his Barisan colleagues during campaigning.

“I was surprised when told that the lights at his house were switched off by 10pm.

“Apparently, he was already sleeping while our campaigners were out there working,” he said.

Najib said whenever there is talk of the polls, party members always pledge their commitment and loyalty to support Barisan candidates.

“I have been in politics for 35 years and know this is not always the case at the grassroots level,” he said.

“Also, the Opposition has been spreading a lot of lies through the social media.

“We need to counter these effectively as the majority of voters between 21 and 35 years can be easily influenced,” he said.

Taking a swipe at Opposition claims that the country's elections were not clean and fair, he said: “They are good political spinners. If we could manipulate the election results, would we have given them Selangor and several other states?” the Prime Minister asked.

Najib said Barisan needs to acquire “new weapons” in the modern warfare if it intends to fight the Opposition.

“We have plenty of ammunition in the form of initiatives and work that we have done for the rakyat.

“Let us be committed to our cause and support candidates picked by the leadership so that we can continue to serve the people,” he added.

- The Star