Barisan can win back power in Sabah, says Najib
Published on: Monday, August 05, 2019
By:
Hayati Dzulkifli, Stefyanie Myla Micheal
PAPAR: Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak believes that Barisan Nasional (BN) is able to make a comeback in Sabah in the 15th General Election and take over the government.
He said there is a growing realisation that the BN era was better than the present Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in terms of policies.
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“That is why I am confident that BN and Umno are still relevant in Sabah and capable of winning back the support of the people.
“Despite some local parties playing up issues to drum up support for Sabah-based parties, I am confident that BN and Umno could win back the hearts of the people,” he told reporters after launching the Papar Umno delegates meeting in Kinarut, near here, Sunday.
Apart from opening the delegates meeting here and Umno Sipitang, Najib had earlier opened the delegates meetings of Umno Tawau and Umno Kalabakan.
After several recent visits to the State, he said he found the pro-Umno/BN spirit “still very strong,” especially at the grassroots level.
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“What we need to do now is to strengthen the leadership because we lost quite a number of people who jumped to the other side.
“I also noted that the current crop of leaders (in Umno Sabah) are in high spirit but lack political experience.
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“So, we need to ‘mature’ them so that they can become viable alternatives later,” he said.
Najib, who is also the chairman of BN’s advisory board, said BN is working with PAS in the peninsula but in Sabah.
“It is not a big factor and we don’t want to overplay PAS in Sabah. But we will look at how the party (Umno) can be strengthened. It’s possible that we may need to have some alliances in Sabah but we are keeping our options open for the time being,” he said.
Describing the politics in Sabah as “very fluid,” Najib said BN and Umno were open to working with parties that subscribed to their policies.
Earlier in his speech, Najib called on some 1,000 Papar Umno delegates to continue to practise the three main values of the party, namely to stay united, be loyal and ready to serve, as one of the keys to strengthen Umno and win in the coming general election.
“If we hold on to these, Umno will succeed…and the political landscape can be changed. “Those who break their promises, ‘rakyat’ will not forget, voters will not forget. I can assure that the political landscape will change and I am confident that it will change and only you (party members and leaders) can make it happen,” he said.
He reminded the delegates 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,” he said.
He said Umno would not “close shop” and would rise from its current state to reclaim its spot in Malaysian politics.
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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.”
Also present were Umno Sabah Deputy Chief Datuk Yakub Khan, Umno Papar acting chief Jamal Nerubi, Umno Kimanis acting chief Datuk Mohamad Alamin, Umno Papar Wanita Chief Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin and other leaders.