DPM: Early notice to prevent sabotage
Move will give time to appease those who are not fielded in this election, says Zahid
CYBERJAYA: The early announcement of Barisan Nasional election candidates will help prevent internal sabotage, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The Umno acting deputy president said the move would give time to appease those who were not fielded in the general election.
“We know that there will be those who feel disgruntled because they are not picked to contest,” he told a press conference after a studio recording of TV Alhijrah’s Orang Diparol talk show.
“By announcing the candidates earlier, there is time for a ‘persuasion process’ before nomination day. We want to avoid cases of sabotage, which have happened before, where someone would influence the party machinery not to campaign, or persuade supporters not to come out and vote.”
Dr Ahmad Zahid was commenting on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s statement that Barisan intended to announce candidates for the 14th General Election much earlier than in the past.
“Previously, Barisan candidates would be announced a day or two before nomination day. We even presented appointment letters to some the night before.
“That practice was suitable back then, but not for GE14 and future elections,” Dr Ahmad Zahid said.
Gear up for election
He added that Barisan had conducted empirical studies to find the most suitable candidates.
“From the shortlist we gathered from the grassroots, we will assess individuals on three things.
“The first is awareness – we will see if the local folk can recognise the potential candidate. The other two things are the candidate’s acceptability and winnability.
“If we cannot find any individual who meets these criteria in a certain constituency, we will move on to a second plan,” he said.
During the talk show, Dr Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister, spoke on the success of the parole system in Malaysia since its implementation in 2008.
“To date, 19,637 prisoners have been paroled, and the recidivism index of parolees has gone down from 9% to 0.48%.”
Recidivism refers to the tendency of a convicted criminal to commit crimes again.
MELAKA: Much wiser after the infighting which almost crippled the state DAP last year, its officials are now extra careful in naming candidates for the general election.
Melaka liaison committee secretary Khoo Poay Tiong said the party was looking for “team players”.
“We do not want a repeat of the infighting that could make our suppporters sore.
“We need to work as a team to build a stronger Opposition,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Khoo, who is the Ayer Keroh assemblyman, said that Melaka DAP “neutralised” the impact of the resignation of four of its leaders last July.
“We managed to explain the issue to our grassroots,” he said.
The four who quit the party were Kota Melaka MP Sim Tong Him, state DAP chief and Duyong assemblyman Goh Leong San, Lim Jak Wong (Bachang) and Chin Choong Seong (Kesidang).
Their decision to leave DAP followed a long-standing feud with party secretarygeneral Lim Guan Eng.
Khoo said although the resignations did affect the party, DAP was confident of doing well in the polls.
“The DAP machinery has been working to address the issue,” he said, adding that of the estimated 100,000 registered urban voters in the city, 60% were Chinese voters.
Khoo said issues that mattered to the voters included assessment rates, parking fees and employment.