DPM Tells Component Parties To Prove Their Worth
ALOR SETAR, Aug 5 (Bernama) --Barisan Nasional component parties have been told to work hard to gain the support of the people so as to prove their eligibility to continue heading their constituencies especially in seats they lost in the last general election.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said through the concept of power sharing practised by UMNO all this while, the party had made many sacrifices to give opportunities to candidates from component parties to contest in areas even though the majority were Malay voters.
"For example, the Alor Setar parliamentary seat and Kota Darulaman state seat, we let MCA contest them ..even though we know more than 80 per cent of the voters in these two constituencies are Malays but in respecting our component parties, we give such seats to MCA and other component parties.
"...this is because as a convention, in areas contested by UMNO, we need votes from Chinese and Indian voters," he said.
He said this when opening Alor Setar UMNO division's delegates conference at Dewan Insaniah near here today. Also present was Kedah Menteri Besar cum Alor Setar UMNO division chief Datuk Seri Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah.
Ahmad Zahid said UMNO had never left its partners in BN component parties in a quandary in putting up election machinery and garnering support but they should help themselves to ensure victory for BN.
We know there are parties we assisted in BN, we know they have their internal problems, when UMNO was weak, our friends in BN were the roots that gave life to the BN tree.
Currently, UMNO is in a strong position and UMNO should help them to grow stronger, he said.
The Deputy Prime Minister also urged UMNO members and leaders to instill loyalty to the leader and advised Ahmad Bashah not to bite the hand that fed him.
So long as I am entrusted to assist the Prime Minister, I will give my full support to him...an individual said I plotted to topple the Prime Minister...but he miscalculated because when he was the head, whoever was number two would have problems, he said.
In the context of Kedah, Ahmad Zahid also gave the assurance that he would try his best to give what the state needed and if it did not work, he would try to whisper to the Prime Minister.
I will ensure the Prime Minister would allocate more for Kedah...Kedah is really lucky as the Menteri Besar has such good relations with the Prime Minister, he said.
He also commended Ahmad Bashah as a resilient person in facing various scenarios in the world of politics to enable the top leadership to chose him to replace Datuk Seri Dr Mukhriz Mahathir.
Ahmad Zahid also expressed his appreciation to Ahmad Bashah for the stand of Kedah UMNO in favouring the status quo in the party top posts in the coming election.
-- BERNAMA
