Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

BN will win next election if I get full support: Najib

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he is confident that the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition can win the next general election if there is no infighting and there is full support for him — despite one of his predecessor’s continuous demand for his resignation.

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he is confident that the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition can win the next general election if there is no infighting and there is full support for him — despite one of his predecessor’s continuous demand for his resignation.

Mr Najib said yesterday that his transformation policies over the past six years are beginning to have an impact on people’s lives and if he gets the support he needs to continue them, BN “will succeed”.

“If I get the support that I need to pursue the transformation programmes, we will succeed. If we are united and stop the infighting, we will succeed. If we focus on constructive rather than destructive politics, we will succeed. If we focus on work instead of believing and spreading rumours, spins and half-truths, we will succeed,” he wrote on his blog under the subject “Claims that BN will lose at the next general elections”.

The post was part of a larger FAQ section, in which the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) President and BN Chairman attempted to address various issues, including the debt-ridden 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M), that had been brought up in public recently, some of it by detractors within UMNO.

Mr Najib said although he and the public want answers about the controversial 1MDB, those answers should not come from news portals or online blogs, which may have “hidden agendas” that only result in speculation.

“We all want detailed answers but it is only proper to let the auditors do their job and tell us clearly what the situation really is,” he said.

“It is unfair for certain politicians to convict the government in the court of public opinion way before the actual facts are laid down by lawful authorities, namely the Auditor-General and the bi-partisan Public Accounts Committee (PAC).”

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has made numerous calls for Mr Najib’s resignation, saying that UMNO and BN would lose if Mr Najib remained in power.

His frequent criticism of Mr Najib has reportedly opened a rift among UMNO grassroots members, though the party’s influential middle-tier leaders at the division level have strongly backed him to continue his tenure.

Dr Mahathir said at a forum in Ipoh on Saturday that he had been studying 1MDB since 2009 and there were unsatisfactory answers to why power plants were purchased at above-market prices and why money was being kept in Cayman Islands. He challenged Mr Najib to a debate over the controversy surrounding 1MDB, which sits on a RM42 billion (S$15.6 billion) debt.

In his blog, Mr Najib appeared to respond to these attacks despite never naming the elder statesman, mentioning only “veteran leader” in his post.

He refuted claims that the BR1M cash handouts were bribes, saying it was merely a scheme that targets the needy, similar to unemployment benefits in other countries, as compared with a blanket subsidy scheme.

“By abolishing blanket subsidies, we generate savings that will then be channelled to those in the low-income group. And we will be able to give these deserving groups more than what they would have received as a result of the blanket subsidy scheme,” he said.

Mr Najib also refuted claims by international media reports that Malaysia has the most corrupt government in the world.

He added that it was “troubling” for a “veteran leader” to be listening to the foreign press after having shunned it throughout his tenure.

“So, the Western media criticising that (previous) administration is biased, but when they criticise my administration, they are not? There appears to be a double standard here.”

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.