The Umno Youth Assembly was told today that the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition would have lost the 1999 general election should the 680,000 new voters then were allowed to cast their votes.

The delegate from Malacca, Idris Harun, said if these voters were allowed to vote, there was a possibility the BN would have also lost at least eight states to the opposition in 1999.

According to him, the states were Kedah, Penang, Pahang, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Perlis and Malacca.

These voters were unable to vote as the Election Commission could not gazette them on time for the elections.

Idris said, in the 1995 general election, BN won 106 parliamentary seats with more than a majority 60 percent, as compared to only 72 parliamentary seats in 1999.

In debating a Youth wing's motion relating to the economy, Idris said he believed most of those 680,000 new voters would have backed the opposition in the last general election.

He urged the Umno Youth that BN, and Umno in particular, must increase its membership in order to offset the votes the opposition might get from these 680,000 electorate in the coming general election, likely to be held next year.

According to Idris, BN obtained a total of 55 percent votes in 1999 general election as compared to 42 percent by the opposition, with 2.7 percent spoilt votes.

"If the 2.7 percent spoilt votes were for the opposition, it means that they need only 5 more percent to defeat the BN," he added.

Redouble efforts

Therefore, he said, it is important for Umno, especially the Umno Youth, to double its effort in getting new members.

"The Umno Youth has to figure out how many of its 670,000 members are eligible voters and how many of them have indeed register to vote for the next general election," he said.

Meanwhile, the delegate from Kelantan, Bakri Daud, said efforts by Umno to recapture Kelantan from PAS in the previous general election had been hampered by split within the party.

For instance, he said, PAS defeated BN in the 1990 general election with the help of Semangat 46, an Umno splinter group led by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

According to him, when Semangat 46 was dissolved and rejoined Umno in 1996, BN had made an encouraging headway in the state.

However, he added, their hope of recapturing Kelantan in the 1999 general election was again dashed following the split within the party after ex-deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was sacked from Umno and the government.