BERA, Oct 16 — Acts of sabotage or ‘cah keting’ must be stopped to ensure the victory of Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 15th General Election (GE15) to form a stable government, stressed caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
The Umno vice-president said that party members should put the interests of the party as a priority because whoever is chosen as a candidate in the election carries the party’s flag. They are not contesting on individual capacity; their victory is for BN.
“In the election, many want to contest and many are qualified to be candidates... It’s okay if you want to be a candidate. However, just because we want to contest, we are sabotaging our friends who are contesting, doing things to make sure our friends do not win.
“Don’t just think about ourselves. We will rejoice for two or three days because our friends lose, but those who will suffer are the public. Imagine the feelings of members who joined the party from a young age, did not sleep at night working for the party, (for surely disappointed) to see their own leaders sabotaging each other,” he said.
Ismail Sabri said this when officiating the Bera Umno Division delegates meeting at the Bera District Council Convention Hall here today.
The caretaker Prime Minister also emphasised that the result of GE14 which saw BN fail to form a government at the federal level should serve as a lesson to strengthen the agreement so that the coalition wins big this time, to avoid political instability resulting in the change of national leadership several times since 2018.
“This election is different. In the past, Umno and BN entered the election with the expectation that they were to win and be able to form a government in Putrajaya. However, after GE14, this 100 per cent guarantee can no longer be given, we can no longer take it for granted and we have to work hard to ensure BN’s victory,” he said.
Ismail Sabri, who is also Bera Umno Division chief, also recalled after the GE14 results were announced, in which he retained the Bera parliamentary seat with a majority of 2,311 votes, the victory was not the same, knowing that many friends in the party had lost.
“Don’t forget and don’t take it for granted. The experience of GE14 should serve as a lesson. This time, we have to work harder because the Bera parliamentary constituency is different. All eyes are on us here because this is the Prime Minister’s parliamentary seat,” he said.
In this regard, Ismail Sabri reminded the machinery of Umno, MCA and MIC to work as ‘one family’ to retain BN’s victory in the Bera parliamentary seat and the Guai and Kemayan state seats, in addition to recapturing the Triang state seat from Pakatan Harapan.
He also added that work should start as early as possible following his announcement on the dissolution of Parliament on Oct 10 after obtaining the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah. — Bernama
