The Star Malaysia

‘Time to wrest back Negri seats’

Najib urges BN to work harder to win two-thirds majority in state assembly

- By SARBAN SINGH sarbans@thestar.com.my

PORT DICKSON: The Negri Sembilan Barisan Nasional has been told to work harder to win more seats in the coming general election.

Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the target was to see them win at least a twothirds majority in the 36seat state assembly.

“We need to increase the numbers from the current 22 seats to 26 or 27.

“We must also work towards winning the three seats held by the Opposition in the Teluk Kemang parliament­ary constituen­cy (which was lost to the Opposition in 2008),” he said in his speech at a meetthepeo­ple session here yesterday.

In the last general election, Barisan won 22 state seats against 21 seats in 2008.

Prior to 2008, the coalition had consistent­ly enjoyed a twothird majority in the state assembly.

“Many good things are being planned for Negri Sembilan such as the Malaysian Vision Valley project, which will create over one million jobs, and the high speed rail project.

“The state government also intends to build more affordable homes to cater to the needs of the people,” he added.

Najib reminded voters not to be taken in by critics’ claims that the nation was nearing bankruptcy.

“We registered a growth of 5.9% last year despite the sluggish world economy. In fact, the World Bank had to revise the growth projection for Malaysia thrice,” he added.

He said if his administra­tion was facing bankruptcy, it would not be able to pay out RM6.8bil for this year’s Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia.

Najib added that Malaysia continued to attract foreign investment­s due to its solid fundamenta­ls and sound policies.

For the record, SK Group from South Korea recently announced that Malaysia would be its Asean regional hub.

The SK Group earns an annual revenue of US$123bil (RM481bil) and is listed in the Fortune 100 list of top global companies.

“The French automobile maker PSA has also signed a joint venture with Naza Group today to manufactur­e its vehicles at a plant in Gurun,” Najib said.

He said critics had also twisted his recent announceme­nt on a RM1.3bil allocation for several projects in Langkawi, adding that these projects had been planned earlier and were to be carried out under the 11th Malaysia Plan.

At a separate function, Najib commended property developer Matrix Concepts Holdings Bhd for financing and building “the most beautiful Tamil school in the country”.

In a speech during the school’s official opening ceremony, he said the company had spent RM9mil to construct SJKT Bandar Seri Sendayan and given 2.4ha of commercial land worth RM8mil for the project.

 ??  ?? Rapt audience: Najib mingling with the guests during the meet-the-people session in Teluk Kemang as Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan (seated, right) looks on. — Bernama
Rapt audience: Najib mingling with the guests during the meet-the-people session in Teluk Kemang as Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan (seated, right) looks on. — Bernama

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