Najib : History Shows Fair Election In Malaysia

SEREMBAN, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said history had shown that the ruling party, Barisan Nasional (BN), had never manipulated the poll so that it would always win in the general election.

If the general election in Malaysia could be easily manipulated, then the BN would not have handed over Selangor to the opposition or Kelantan remaining under PAS rule, he said.

"Although we don't manipulate, they (opposition) will always turn around. So, if we don't counter the allegations, the people will think that we have manipulated the general election and used instruments of the state such as the armed forces," he said in his speech at the closing of the BN Convention, here Sunday.

The allegations that the BN had used instruments of the state and the armed forces were also not true, he said.

"We can't even guarantee that we will get the military votes, there are military votes against us. The military, when we walk past them, they salute us, but when the election comes, we lose," he said.

A founder of PKR, Dr Chandra Muzaffar, who had previously contested on a PKR ticket, had once admitted to Najib that although he lost in Bandar Tun Razak, he had the majority of the military votes then.

He said Chandra himself had criticised the party that he once represented, saying that the allegation of manipulation in the general election was a lie spread by the opposition.

"When the soldiers cast their ballots in the box, there are observers who are representatives of the opposition present. They will protest at the slightest mistake. Although we don't manipulate, they are smart at turning around," he said.

The presence of the military and government servants had still not been able to ensure automatic victory for the BN.

Nevertheless, the opposition had no answer when the government announced various transformation policies that enabled the BN to gain political momentum, Najib said.

The opposition, however, were still smart in turning around and staging Bersih 2.0 and drawing up a lengthy script to launch an attack through demonstrations, the website and even video screening through the youtube.

"I notice that they have merged Bersih 1 and 2 in the youtube to criticise the government and the people think that the video is true. I notice in the video as though they had already prepared a well planned script," he said.

Their acting was good and could influence the people who might not realise this and if one were to think, who would go to the hospital for medical treatment as a result of serious injury and still be wearing the yellow shirt, Muhyiddin pointed out.

The BN might have been skilful in warfare previously and had won the general election 12 times, but this time around, the war had taken a new form and the BN could no longer use the old weapons in a modern war.