Put aside party polls, focus on GE14, - Najib
PEKAN, March 31 (Bernama) -- UMNO president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today urged party members and leaders to forget the party polls for now and focus fully on the 14th General Election instead.
Najib, who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, 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 Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Harun, women's wing head Datuk Zalmah Abdul Rahman and Youth chief Datuk Shahruddin Ahmad.
More than 10, 000 party faithful from Pekan UMNO and branches of BN components in Pekan turned up for the event.
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 from 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 (of being 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 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 scale remains balanced', referring to opposition parties PAS, DAP and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.
-- BERNAMA
