Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman warned today that the opposition pact would use a new approach targeting Umno in its attempt to topple the BN in the next general election.

NONE The state Umno liaison committee chairman said it would use the new approach after having garnered the support of 80 per cent of urban non-Malays in the last general election, in 2008.

The pact was now spreading the word asking the people to vote for Malay candidates so long as they were not from Umno, he said when opening the Umno Youth, Umno Wanita and Puteri Umno delegates meetings of the Ledang Umno Division in Serom, Sungai Mati, in Muar.

He said this tactic was different from that employed in the last general election when the pact coaxed the people to vote for opposition candidates and not those from the BN, which resulted in the defeat of many MCA and Gerakan candidates in Johor.

"The new approach, which was launched two years ago, is being 'promoted' with vigour after the recent Sarawak elections which saw the opposition winning many urban seats," Bernama reporting Abdul Gani ( above ) as saying.

Abdul Ghani said the opposition was likely to raise the people's reservations over purported poor governance and unhealthy practices in the government and Umno leadership, and fan racial sentiments.

"For example, if a Malay organisation defends its stand and rights, the pact will accuse us of being racist," he said, adding that this was a new challenge to the future of the Malays in Johor.

'Benefits and profits'

As such, he coaxed Johor Malays, including PAS members, to unite, saying that the latest development was a major challenge which could undermine their future.

husni eon bank function 120310 ahmad husni Elsewhere, Second Finance Minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, similarly urged the people to be wary of the opposition ploy promising various benefits and profits if they were to win the next general election and take over the government.

Ahmad Husni ( left ), who is also a member of the Umno Supreme Council, said the people should not take the risk by giving their votes to the opposition pact comprising three political parties with differing ideologies and objectives and had no experience in leading the country.

"The BN government has a major agenda for the people where we have drawn up the government transformation programme (GTP) and the economic transformation programme (ETP) which aim to achieve a high income for the people by the year 2020.

"We are targeting to raise the country's gross income to RM1.7 trillion compared with RM660 billion currently," he told reporters after opening the delegates meeting of the Parit Umno division at the National Youth Skills Institute (IKBN) hall in Parit today.

In addition, he said, the majority of the 11 million people who were working would enjoy an income of between RM2,000 and RM7,000 while the others would earn more than RM7,000 each month.

He said the opposition pact was incapable of planning numerous programmes within a short time frame unlike the BN government which could implement various monitoring programmes and approaches such as the national key economic areas (NKEA) and the national key result areas(NKRA).

"The major programmes drawn up by the government had succeeded in attracting investors and companies of world standard to invest and expand their operations in this country," he said.