PETALING JAYA: Barisan Nasional needs to name a menteri besar candidate if it wants to wrest Selangor back from Pakatan Harapan, says Khir Toyo.
According to the former Selangor menteri besar, the decision to not name a candidate to lead the state government in the past two elections led to BN failing to win over voters in the state.
“In the 12th general election (GE12) in 2008, we won 20 state seats. In GE13 (in 2013), we lost eight so it became 12 state seats. Then in GE14 (in 2018), BN only won four state seats.
“We cannot be making the same mistake at every general election. Like it or not, we have to name a candidate (for the post of menteri besar),” he told FMT.
Khir said that BN should also name candidates for all state government positions prior to the next elections, adding that it must include those from MIC and MCA.
He added that each candidate must be able to champion issues affecting the people, such as floods, the economy, unemployment, the rising cost of living, and the lack of affordable housing.
He admitted, however, that BN would find it hard to win back Selangor if it was on its own, saying the coalition needed to work harder to regain support from all voters, be it Malays or non-Malays.
When asked whether Selangor BN should be given autonomy to decide on cooperation with other parties like Sabah, Khir said the political situation in the peninsula was different.
“We cannot give autonomy to all states. In Sabah, because they are far and it is geographically vast, they are given some autonomy. But this can’t be done with other states. If everyone was given autonomy, it will be chaos,” he said.
In GE14, BN only won two parliamentary seats (Sabak Bernam and Tanjong Karang) in Selangor, as well as four state seats (Sungai Air Tawar, Sungai Panjang, Hulu Bernam and Sungai Burong). - FMT
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