BN can win back power in Sabah, says Najib

Najib Razak (centre) and Umno leaders and members at the Papar Umno division delegates’ meeting at Kinarut, near Kota Kinabalu, today.

KOTA KINABALU: Former prime minister Najib Razak believes that Barisan Nasional is able to make a comeback in Sabah and take over the government.

Najib, the chairman of BN’s advisory board, said there is a growing realisation that the BN era was better than the present Pakatan Harapan government and that its policies had benefited Sabahans.

“That is why I am confident that Umno and BN are still relevant in Sabah,” he told reporters after launching the Papar Umno division delegates’ meeting at Kinarut, near here, today.

Najib was confident that Umno and BN could win back the hearts of the people despite local parties playing up issues to drum up support for Sabah-based parties.

After several recent visits to the state, he said, he found the pro-Umno-BN spirit “still very strong”, especially among the grassroots level.

“What we need to do now is strengthen the leadership because we lost quite a number of people who jumped to the other side,” he said.

Najib said BN would not focus too much on its working relationship with PAS in Sabah despite it being the case in the peninsula.

“It’s not a big factor and we don’t want to overplay PAS in Sabah. But we will look at how we can strengthen Umno.

“It’s possible that we may need some alliances in Sabah but we are keeping our options open for the time being,” he said.

He described the politics in Sabah as “very fluid”, adding that Umno and BN were open to working with parties who believed in their policies.

Najib also noted that while the current crop of leaders were high spirited, they lacked political experience.

“So we will have to ‘mature’ them in the near future so they can become viable alternatives later,” he said.

Earlier, in his speech, he reminded the delegates, numbering more than 200, that BN did not lose in the previous general election “but only fell because its previous leaders switched sides after the election”.

“There were 21 people who jumped (eventually) and they contested and won under the BN ticket.

“And these people have been getting ‘habuan’ (rewards) all this while. But you (the people) did not get anything but remained loyal to the party,” he said to applause from the crowd.

He said Umno would not “close shop” and would rise from its current state to reclaim its spot in Malaysian politics.

On the “Bossku” tagline that he is associated with, Najib said: “I also don’t understand this Bossku phenomenon but I am not the boss, the people are the boss.” - FMT