KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob today said Barisan Nasional (BN) members must stop becoming the mouthpiece of the Opposition by badmouthing its own government, and instead focus on preparing for the upcoming general elections and keeping the party’s name clean.

Ismail Sabri, at the Selangor BN Convention today, said that Malaysia’s economic situation is better than some make it seem, pointing out that Malaysia’s inflation rate is lower than many of its regional neighbours as well as the United States and countries in Europe.

"The world judges Malaysia well because we have a strong foundation. We seem to reject the world’s evaluation of us until it causes us to spend a lot of time thinking and discussing what is bad until we forget and don’t believe in our own strength.

"This is all because we get trapped by the perception brought on by the Opposition until we ourselves carry their stories and become the Opposition’s tongues to discredit us,” he said.

"If we always make the government (look) worse, how are we going to win and capture the hearts of the people?” he asked the crowd.

He then said that party members should instead work as though the general elections will be held tomorrow, and share around the good that the government has done — such as the restoration of loan repayment exemptions for high-scoring National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) borrowers, which was announced last week.

Someone from the crowd then asked Ismail Sabri when the general elections would be held, to which the prime minister answered jokingly: "Either this year or next, but whether it’s on a Saturday or a Sunday we don’t know yet”.

This drew laughter from the crowd.