KUCHING, April 27 (Bernama) — The leaders of Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties were today reminded not to get carried away by intra-party frictions as this could affect their decisions to put up winnable candidates for the coming general election (GE).
BN chairman and Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said party presidents should set aside differences that they may have with others leaders within their parties to pick the right persons who could deliver victory in the election.
“I don’t want your favourite persons to become candidates as all I want is winnable candidates,” he said during a dinner hosted by Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud at the latter’s official residence here.
Apart from Taib, who is Sarawak BN chairman and Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) president, the dinner was also attended by presidents of the Sarawak United People’s Party, Datuk Seri Peter Chin; Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party, Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom and Parti Rakyat Sarawak’s Tan Sri Dr James Masing.
Najib said differences in opinions were bound to happen in a coalition with a long history such as the BN but he believed they could be sorted out in the family spirit. He said the long history had also put some people in BN to be losing sight of the very reason of the coalition’s existence, which was to serve the people well.
“By serving the people (well), they will have confidence to vote for us,” he said.
The Prime Minister said support from Sarawak was crucial in order for the BN to form the government after the coming election and thus enable the development agenda for the state to continue.
He said the opposition had yet to show that they were able to measure themselves up to what the BN had done all this while for the state.
“We want to do more for Sarawak but what we need is the mandate of the people (in the state in this coming election),” he added. Meanwhile, Taib who spoke earlier, told the state BN leaders to focus on highlighting the success of Sarawak under BN, rather than to be dragged into arguing about the opposition’s propaganda.
Being a person who had been long in politics and administering the state, he said the present opposition had failed to prove themselves as a better alternative for the people to manage the nation.
“I am old in this game and I believe none of the people in the opposition can chart out a common strategy for the (good of the) people,” he said. — BERNAMA