ANY FOOL COULD HAVE TOLD HIM BUT NAJIB REFUSED TO LISTEN, ENDS UP GETTING HIS ‘FACE’ KICKED IN: AS KHAIRY JOINS CALLS FOR EX-PM TO ‘STAY AWAY’ FROM UMNO, NAJIB NOW SAYS WON’T CAMPAIGN IN BALAKONG AFTER SUNGAI KANDIS FLOP – ‘OH NO, I WON’T, I WANT TO REST’

KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Najib Razak has confirmed that he will not be on the ground to campaign for Barisan Nasional in the Balakong by-election next week.

When met at the Parliament today, Najib was asked by reporters if he would be making rounds in the Balakong and Seri Setia by-elections.

“Balakong? Oh no. I won’t. I want to rest,” the Pekan member of parliament said today.

Several quarters in the party had suggested that Najib needed to distance himself from the BN machinery following graft allegations that had tainted his image.

Some party leaders were also reportedly to have advised the former Umno president to refrain from going about campaigning for BN in by-elections, as seen in Sungai Kandis early this month.

However, Najib admitted that he was only in Sungai Kandis upon request by the BN candidate Datuk Lokman Noor Adam.

“I was not keen to be on the ground. But I was invited by Lokman. He implored me to come down.

“On that reason, you know, he stood by me. That is why I decided to be there. It was not in my original plan to do so.”

The Balakong and Seri Setia by-elections will take place simultaneously.

The Election Commission has fixed Aug 18 for nomination and polling on Sept 8. © New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd. – NST

Khairy backs Nazri’s call for Najib to distance

FORMER Umno president Najib Razak should distance himself from the party, Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin said, agreeing with comments made by another Umno leader Nazri Abdul Aziz yesterday.

The party’s new leadership under president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi should be given the chance to lead and set Umno’s direction following its defeat in the 14th general election, Khairy said.

“This is the view of some former Umno leaders that the new leadership should be given the chance to carry out their tasks and chart the course for the party.

“I agree that the new leadership should be given the space to do so. 

“That is why the former president must give room (to the new leadership) and so must those who contested the president’s post,” Khairy told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.

Yesterday, Nazri said Najib, who stepped down as party president after losing GE14, should distance himself from the party or the stigma attached to him would also affect Umno. – https://www.themalaysianinsight.com

NST / THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT