PR goes on RED ALERT: No way we will let Umno re-take Penang & Selangor

Pakatan Rakyat leaders vowed to raise their game and take seriously the threats issued by Umno leaders to wrest back two key states - Selangor and Penang.

According to Selangor Umno deputy chief Noh Omar, the BN coalition would wrest back the Selangor government in the next general election by winning 32 of the 56 seats in the state legislative assembly.

"Since Noh has actually com out with a number, PKR and Pakatan will surely take all care to ensure as much weakness and problems are resolved. We will go on red alert in all the states we govern. We think Noh is bluffing but for sure Selangorians have to be on guard because the BN have extra players in their team such as the Election Commission and the police," PKR MP for Batu Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

Selangor is the richest state in Malaysia and Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is also the Umno president, has vowed to take back the state by any means possible.

The Pakatan Rakyat federal opposition had captured Selangor during the 2008 general election, a feat that shaken Najib's Umno-BN coalition to the core. BN now holds only 20 of the 56 Selangor seats.

Warlords out to grab MB's seat

Nonetheless, while Noh exuded confidence he could not outline how his party could trounce Pakatan.

“I don’t want to get ahead of fate, but God willing I am confident BN will be able to win back Selangor, at least 32 seats,” Malaysian Insider reported Noh as saying on Monday.

According to Noh, who is the Tanjung Karang MP as well as the federal minister for Agriculture, Selangor folk were realizing that the Pakatan parties of  PKR, DAP and PAS were unfit to govern.

He also claimed that it was not necessary for Najib to name who would be the BN chief minister should BN win Selangor, a factor that Pakatan had highlighted was a sure sign that Umno was split, with rival faction jostling for the Mentri Besar's post.

Noh is among those Umno 'warlords' reckoned to be in the chase for the Selangor top job. So too are his colleagues Mohd Zin and the disgraced Khir Toyo, who was the former Selangor MB.

“I don’t want to get ahead of fate, I am still a member of Parliament for Tanjung Karang, but it all depends on the leadership. Most importantly, we move the party machinery to win this state, the question of who (will be) mentri besar is not important,” said Noh.

“In 2008, they (Pakatan) also didn’t know who their candidate for mentri besar was, so it’s better for BN to focus on winning back Selangor."

More bold predictions in Penang as BN tries to go on the offensive

Meanwhile, in Penang, Defence minister and Umno state chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi also boasted over the weekend that BN would regain the state, the second richest in Malaysia.

According to Zahid, BN would achieve this with a 3-3-3-1' formula involving Umno, MCA and Gerakan adding three seats each and MIC one seat to their existing 11 Penang state assembly seats. In the 2008 general election, Pakatan dominated 40 of the state assembly seats contested with DAP winning 19 seats, PKR 9 and PAS one.

"We can form a BN government in Penang by a majority of one seat if we achieve this. If the BN component parties work harder I'm confident we can win more state assembly seats here," Bernama reported Zahid as saying.

Zahid added that Penang Pakatan was now in crisis with PKR leaders such as Deputy Chief Minister I Mansor Othman now realizing that they had been used by the Chinese-predominant DAP party.

Pakatan to go on red alert

Zahid's comments drew a stinging response from Penang Chief Minister and DAP sec-gen Lim Guan Eng.

"UMNO is now talking about regaining ground amongst Chinese, Indian and Malay voters because there is now a soft blackout of PR leaders on all mainstream media, which will be totally complete come election time. For instance when I revealed my house tenancy agreement in the interests of transparency, some newspapers refused to publish it nor published our requests that BN leaders reveal their tenancy or purchase of luxury homes," said Guan Eng in a statement.

"UMNO is also confident because they sense complacency amongst PR. The time has come for PR to view the UMNO 3-3-3-1 threat seriously. In this respect UMNO may be correct as our PR Penang machinery is not in full election mode. I will request all PR parties to submit a full report on their election preparation by gearing up for polls in November, even though Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is widely expected to call for elections next year."

Malaysia Chronicle