KUALA TERENGGANU, March 17 — Umno leaders at all levels must be more focused and adopt the ‘micro targeting’ method to win the hearts of the people instead of criticising each other.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said such a method would detail the target especially the voters by evaluating their needs in a different manner.

“We must pay attention to matters that are more detailed. We must study our target, instead of targeting our own members...the people below aim up, the people higher up will shoot downward. The people targeted will be disturbed and shoot among themselves.

“That is why micro targeting aims at those who are our voters. We must carry out segmentation at the market space and not market place,” he said.

He disclosed this in his speech when opening the Umno Branches Cluster Meeting at the Terengganu State Level, here today.

Ahmad Zahid added the use of such a method was appropriate because the ecosystem and geopolitics had changed, in fact, the conventional method was considered no longer relevant.

“Micro targeting should be carried out based on the individual, we cannot use the same approach for everyone. In addition, what needs to be looked into is the follow-up action and this must be followed up with a review and there must be immediate action,” he said.

According to Ahmad Zahid, the Barisan Nasional (BN) was still the preferred party for the Malays and had gained the trust of more than 4.11 million Malays in the 13th General Election (GE13).

He said the figure was obtained based on the study that stated that out of the 5.23 million people who had voted for the BN, almost 78.6 per cent (4.11 million) were Malays.

“This record clearly shows that still a lot of Malays want the party to drive the nation forward and champion their rights. The Malays still love Umno,” he said. 

In addition, Ahmad Zahid also urged everyone to support the deal reached by Umno in being friendly with an opposition party for the sake of national prosperity and religion.

He said that in politics, there were no permanent friends or enemies, in fact, the deal made with the opposition party was not done blindly.

He also urged all Umno leaders, whether at the top or lower level to maintain their resilience, fighting spirit and competitiveness to face the challenges in the run up to the 14th General Election (GE14).

On the tabling of the Private Bill to empower the Syariah Court (RUU355), Ahmad Zahid said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was deeply committed to bring up the matter without jeopardising the other faiths.

“The RUU355 will be tabled by the government itself in Parliament soon,” he added. — Bernama