‘UNITE TO DELIVER GE14 MANDATE’
Landslide victory possible if state’s component parties adopt 3 elements, says Najib
SARAWAK Barisan Nasional components have been told to close ranks and unite to deliver a greater mandate for the coalition in the 14th General Election.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said a landslide victory was possible if all component parties adopted three elements — have a plan, execute the plan well, and have unity and solidarity.
“Unity and solidarity are the underpinnings of a stronger front.
“A house divided will fall despite formulating a good plan and tactic to execute it,” the BN chairman said at Sarawak United Peoples’ Party’s (SUPP) 24th triennial delegates conference here yesterday.
Present were state BN chairman Datuk Patinggi Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari Abang Openg, who is also chief minister, SUPP president Prof Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian and top leaders in the party.
Najib called upon SUPP and its splinter party, the United People’s Party, to resolve their differences before the GE14, adding that he believed that Abdul Rahman Zohari would have a formula to end the rift between the two parties.
“To have a stronger Sarawak, we must have a stronger and united front. We must go to war as one BN, one SUPP,” Najib said.
He reminded SUPP delegates of the outcome faced by a disjointed party going into the polls.
“During the previous parliamentary election, SUPP managed to win only one out of the seven seats contested by the party.”
In the 2013 General Election (GE13), Sarawak BN won 25 seats out of the 31 parliamentary seats contested. SUPP won the Serian parliamentary seat, but lost the Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Sarikei, Sibu, Lanang and Miri parliamentary seats.
Despite the setback in GE13, Najib said SUPP showed that it was made of tougher stuff when it wrested back four state seats, including Batu Kawa, Meradong, and Piasau, from the opposition in the 11th state polls last year.
“Usually, when a person has a near death experience, the person will become wiser and stronger because you do not want to die.
“I can feel a new sense of unity in SUPP, which is a positive development for the party.”
Najib said compared with its triennial delegates conference three years ago, he could feel that SUPP had a new sense of unity.
“I want SUPP to be a party of choice for the people of Sarawak, just like Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) and other parties from this state.”
He said it was imperative for component parties to gain the people’s support, and urged all BN component party election machineries to go down to the ground and engage the people of the ruling coalition’s superior agenda for the nation, including Sarawak.
“Avoid organising big dinners. I want you to go to the ground. Sit with the people and relate to them our struggles.
“Share with them why we are their better choice,” he said, adding that BN was unlike the opposition pact.
“Tell them that we are not like the party from the other side, which is unstable, loose, fragmented and fractious.
“Ask them if DAP has a better agenda or if they can rest their hopes on a 93-year-old man.
“You tell the people,” he said, in an apparent jibe at the opposition and Pakatan Harapan chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.