Perak BN is confident of getting at least 35 state seats in the next general election to form the next state government, claims state Umno state secretary Ramli Zahari.

In the current state assembly of 59 seats, BN and Pakatan are each holding 27 state seats while four former Pakatan state assemblypersons have declared themselves as Independents supportive of BN.

Ramli's argument is that if BN can get the support of at least 30 percent of the voting population from each of the three main races, Malays, Chinese and Indians and 10 percent from other races in each state seat, than it would be safe for the BN to form the state government.

NONE However, Ramli's analysis is that if the ratio of support changed to Malays 70 percent, Chinese 20 percent and Indians 10 percent, then the seat will go to PAS; and if the ratio goes to Malays 20 percent, Chinese 70 percent and Indians 10 percent, than the seat will be won by DAP.

But Ramli is very optimistic as he claimed that the feedback from the ground was encouraging as Perakians are turning back to BN under the 1Malaysia concept of Premier Najib Abdul Razak ( right ), which is gaining popularity among voters.

It is also believed that Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir is following in the footsteps of Najib's 1Malaysia concept and is gaining popularity among the various races in the silver state.

BN Supporters Club to be launched

Ramli, who is also an executive councillor and Manong assemblyperson, said that BN has set up a multiracial team to prepare the groundwork for the coming general election.

A BN Supporters Club has been formed with an initial membership of 100, consisting of a cross-section of all the races of the working population in the state, and this club is set to be officially launched in a week's time.

According to Ramli, the aim of this club is to recruit members who are not affiliated with any political parties but who would like to support BN from the outside as individuals.

This club's members will go to the ground and explain BN's 1Malaysia concept to the people and to re-make the image of BN as a people's party.

What is encouraging is that unhappy members from Pakatan parties, especially PKR, also want to join this club, claimed the Umno state secretary.

When it was pointed out that most of the Chinese community are still supportive of the opposition, his reply was, "We will do an in-depth study and come up with a solution to win their support."

However, Ramli expressed his unhappiness that while Umno seems to be the driving force in the state BN coalition, the other state BN component parties must wake up to also play an active role to address the grievances of their respective communities.

"What have we now, is a single Chinese representative (from MCA) in the exco and none from the Indian community," he lamented.

‘Other BN parties must do their homework'

He wants the other state BN component parties to also do their homework in serving their respective races to ensure that Chinese representation in the state executive council is increased from the current one state seat to at least three, with at least an Indian seat, to reflect the 1Malaysia concept.

dr zambry abd kadir perak new cm bn 050209 "What I want is elected representatives in the state exco to win the confidence of the voters," he explained.

When asked about media speculation that state Umno Youth is allegedly not supportive of Zambry's administration, he brushed it off, saying that he had worked under the administrations of four Perak menteri besars and he finds that Zambry ( right ) is very accommodating.

The senior Umno politician said that Zambry is now embarking on a regional development agenda not confined only to the state, and this is resulting in positive developments for Perak.