PM Najib vows to recapture Pagoh from Bersatu

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today reminded the people, particularly Felda settlers, to always embrace the BN and Umno struggle to ensure that the country remained progressive.

Najib, who is BN chairperson and Umno president, said the people should place their trust in Umno, a party that was strong on its own, instead of relying on parties that depended on other parties.

"We should not be relying on parties that depend on others. We have to place our trust in a real party, which is Umno.

"So long as there is Umno, the interests of the Malays and the other communities will be safeguarded, and our country will continue to move forward,” he said when addressing the people of Pagoh at the Maokil Felda scheme here.

Also present at the event were Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor, Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin and his wife Rosni Mansor, and Felda chairperson Shahrir Abdul Samad.          

The prime minister said leaders in any party, including Umno and BN, were important but the leaders alone could not bring about any change without the support of the grassroots.

He said Umno’s deeds were much bigger than the leaders’ because leaders came and went but Umno remained as a sacred party and not like any other.

"Umno is a political institution of our homeland. It is a most successful party, a party of hope. It is what we have to nurture; not the leaders but the party.

"I also realise that if the 3.5 million Umno members are not behind me, I cannot possibly be a leader (Prime Minister) who can bring about change,” he said.

'Sleeping' with the DAP

Najib said two former Umno leaders, in reference to Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin, had claimed that the opposition DAP was anti-Malay and anti-Islam but they had betrayed the Umno and BN struggle they had upheld to side the DAP.

"Someone has forgotten that he was the prime minister for 22 years because Umno was behind him. Today, he wants to destroy Umno, and has befriended DAP. He has not only befriended DAP, he is even sleeping with DAP,” said Najib.

"Just because they want to attain the unattainable, DAP wants to use Mahathir, Mahathir wants to use Muhyiddin while DAP wants to use them to reduce the Malay votes.

"They want to use DAP because Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia is incapable. This is why they are struggling. They cannot stand on their own feet, so they cling on to DAP,” he said.

Najib also said that the Felda community should bear in mind the spirit of the struggle in the development of the land scheme and the deeds of previous leaders in doing so.

He said that personally, Felda had been close to his heart from the time he was a child, and that Felda had transformed because of the leaders in Umno and BN.

"Felda cannot be separated from (second prime minister) Tun (Abdul) Razak (Hussein) because it was born out of his struggle to want to see landless villagers and landless poor benefit from the “good land for good people”.

"His struggle went to the extent of him (Tun Razak), clad in a bush jacket, walking across a wooden bridge to see that the people enjoyed a better future,” said Najib, recalling the model of a settler’s house at Sri Taman, the office residence of Tun Razak when he was the prime minister.

Recapturing Pagoh

Najib also said that Umno and BN would recapture the Pagoh parliamentary seat in the 14th general election. The seat is held by Muhyiddin who is now with Bersatu.

The prime minister said Pagoh would continue to be progressive so long as Umno and BN remained in power.

"We will continue to implement the Pagoh manifesto,” he said.

At the event, Najib handed over land titles to several of the 721 Felda settlers. The titles were for a total of 80.93 hectares of housing plots and 3,165.8 hectares of plantation land.

- Bernama