Muhyiddin warns of tough sell in next GE

By Yow Hong Chieh

May 20, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — A tougher, more aggressive opposition and savvy voters will make the next general election critical for Barisan Nasional (BN), Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has said.

“The politicking adopted by the opposition which was no longer like before, while the voters had already made up their mind,” he told reporters in Baling today.

Muhyiddin (picture), who is also BN deputy chairman, stressed that the ruling coalition must strengthen its resolve and thoroughly prepare for nationwide polls as it would be “most painful” if BN could not regain its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority.

“There should no longer be any quarrels at the divisional level because our struggles will have a different meaning when we lose and no longer have power,” he said.

Muhyiddin also reminded Umno members to take BN’s historic losses in the last general election as a lesson, warning them not to grow complacent despite improved public perception of BN.

“I’m thankful that Umno members are now in better and stronger spirits and the change in attitude is good and crucial as we face the next general election,” he said.

The Malaysian Insider understands that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is likely to delay snap polls until the end of this year or early 2012 as his party hunts for funds to finance a campaign to court Bumiputera and Indian voters and secure a two-thirds parliamentary majority.

It is believed Umno’s coffers were depleted after BN spent some RM500 million for the April 16 Sarawak election.

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, however, told The Malaysian Insider that he believed Umno’s increasingly ultra-Malay stance as well as the emergence of a sex video aimed at discrediting Pakatan Rakyat’s image were definite signs that a general election would be called by August.

But BN insiders say Najib is cautious about calling elections so soon as he wants to regain the coalition’s two-thirds parliamentary majority, which now appears impossible with the Chinese snub continuing in the Sarawak election.

Chinese-based MCA took a battering in the historic 2008 general election — which also robbed BN of its customary two-thirds majority — when the party won only 15 out of 40 parliamentary seats it contested.