Forget party polls for now, focus on GE14: Najib

GE14 | Umno president Najib Abdul Razak today urged his party members and leaders to forget party polls for now and focus fully on the 14th general election instead.

Najib, who is also the BN chairperson, said the political power they have now would mean nothing if the coalition lost in GE14.

"Now is not the time to be thinking about party elections… the struggle can only continue if we still have political power.

"Leaders come and go, but the party will still be there...so prioritise your responsibilities, because we inherited Umno and BN to be bequeathed to our children and grandchildren in a much better state,” he said.

The prime minister said this when launching Pekan BN’s election machinery for GE14 at Taman Tasik Sultan Abu Bakar here today.

Also present were Pekan Umno deputy chief Abu Bakar Harun, Wanita chief Zalmah Abdul Rahman and Youth chief Shahruddin Ahmad.

More than 10,000 party faithful from Pekan Umno and branches of BN components in the constituency turned up for the event.

Pekan 'unshakable'

Najib said the show of force indicated that the BN stronghold was unshakeable, even though a former leader, who is now 93 years old, had come to the constituency thinking that he could sway the people.

"To anyone (in the opposition) who has intentions to contest in Pekan, the turnout today is only part of our strength.

"We have many more 'soldiers,' if you don’t believe go and scout around Pekan... they do not have confidence in those who never cared for them,” he said.

"They know who really cares for them, more so since this son of Pekan has been in Putrajaya (as prime minister), several changes and developments have taken place here, be it educational institutions, factories, mosques, you just name it,” he added.

On the same note, Najib  once again reminded all party members to continue adopting the concept of walaq (loyal to the leader).

"I see that it is not the outsiders who can destroy us as they are not strong, so we must continue to be loyal to the leaders... not to Najib Abdul Razak or other individuals.

"During the time of Prophet Muhammad, in the Battle of Badar and Uhud, when the archers disobeyed the Prophet's orders and deserted their stations by descending the mountain, the Muslims were defeated.

“This is a reminder from Allah that if we are disloyal we will not win, even if we are capable of winning," he said.

At the event, Najib ended his speech figuratively by saying "the moon no longer shines, the rocket has lost its direction, the flower has lost its bloom, but the scales remain balanced," referring to opposition parties PAS, DAP and Bersatu.

- Bernama