BN Will Continue Getting Support In Rural Areas - Zahidi
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 (Bernama) -- The government's continuous effort in helping the people in rural areas is expected to be one of the major advantages for UMNO and Barisan Nasional (BN) in the upcoming 14th general election (GE14).
Padang Besar Member of Parliament Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin said he believed that the support from the people in the rural areas would enable UMNO and BN to retain power in the country.
Zahidi, who is also chairman of Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA), said the BN government under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had never marginalised the people in the rural areas, especially farmers and smallholders, and it was proved by the various facilities and assistance made available for them.
He said of the 222 parliamentary seats available in the country, 128 were in rural areas and from his observation, the rural communities would normally give their support either to UMNO or PAS.
"We can see that BN will remain in power (after the GE14) because even if PAS wins, they will not support the Pakatan Harapan," he said after giving a briefing on agriculture and rural economy to the staff of Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) here today.
Also present were Bernama Deputy Editor-in-Chief for Domestic News Service Datuk Mokhtar Hussain and Editor 1 Khairdzir Md Yunus.
Meanwhile, Zahidi said RISDA had proposed to the government to introduce a card system for the people in rural areas to enable them to purchase essential items at much lower prices.
"We are asking the government to consider setting lower price of rice, sugar and cooking oil for the people in rural areas," he said.
Zahidi said it was believed that the system could help alleviate the burden and reduce costs of living of the people who had been giving their support to the BN government.
-- BERNAMA
