GE15: Don’t belittle others in Barisan to win, says Zahid
IPOH: Barisan Nasional candidates in the 15th General Election (GE15) should not win by belittling others in the same coalition, says Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
“Let’s not focus too much on winning for ourselves only by belittling others and questioning the authority of friends in the coalition who are contesting,” said Ahmad Zahid.
The Barisan chairman and Umno president said in a Facebook post on Saturday (Nov 12) that it is not wise to ruin the chances of other Barisan candidates to get sympathy from voters.
This comes after Ahmad Zahid said on Thursday (Nov 10) that Khairy Jamaluddin had requested to contest in the Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat.
Khairy then replied on the same day saying that he had no other choice and “had to do something on his own” to find a parliamentary seat to contest after he learnt he would not be defending his Rembau seat in GE15.
In his post on Saturday, Ahmad Zahid then said that Barisan Nasional’s victory as a whole should be prioritised instead of focusing on individual seats.
He added that as the campaign period for GE15 is about to enter its second week, focusing on the victory for the coalition is the top priority.
He said to ensure Barisan’s victory, there is a need for all to be united to achieve the same goal and know the real enemies.
Ahmad Zahid also said that Barisan has gone through a winding road in an effort to restore the party, and it was only after the 14th General Election that they began to recover and rise again in a series of victories in the Melaka and Johor state elections.
He said the fact that Barisan has faced the sentiments and anger of the people before the 2008 elections led to a negative impact.
“In the 2008 elections, Barisan lost in Selangor, Perak, Penang and Kedah for the first time. Even the votes of Umno president and Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also declined.
“So let us learn from Barisan’s terrible defeats in 2008 and 2018 by being united and focused on the coalition’s victory. Avoid opening up any space for our enemies.
We must ensure that the ‘black episodes’ in the political history of Barisan becomes a new boundary so that we will not repeat our mistakes,” he added.
Ahmad Zahid added populist statements that could tarnish the name of the party must be avoided at all cost in a move to enthusiastic campaigning.
“In this period of less than seven days, let us focus as much as possible on Barisan’s victory. Remember the purpose of contesting in the elections is to convince the people that only Barisan is the best choice for the future of Malaysia, and not the other parties,” he said.
“Barisan’s collective victory means more than an individual victory. Only after Barisan wins the elections, we will move to party elections,” added Ahmad Zahid.
He said that anyone is free to run for party posts, such as the president, deputy president and vice president as long as they get support from the grassroots of the party.