'BN must retake KL to shed kampung image'

The ruling coalition must retake the parliamentary seats in the federal capital of Kuala Lumpur in order to shed its 'kampung image', said BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak.

"Kuala Lumpur and the federal territories are important, as these are the urban areas," Najib ( right ) told the thousands strong BN grassroots who filled the Dewan Merdeka in PWTC to over-capacity today.

The Pekan MP was speaking at the conclusion of the BN's Federal Territory level's Majlis Penerangan Perdana (premier briefing session) to prepare the BN components’ grassroots and leadership gathered on how to strengthen the coalition and expose Pakatan Rakyat’s tactics to weaken the opposition.

 

Najib said that BN must win the city seats populated by the middle class and the intellectuals so that it is not perceived that the urban folk does not support the ruling coalition.

"I don't want BN to be seen as a provincial party, supported only by farmers and village folks," he said.

To this end, he called upon the BN component parties to stop existing infighting and internal sabotage, and instead work together to ensure that they will win the KL seats in the next polls.

This, Najib said, is because the beating of the election drums is echoing in the air and its vibrations are almost tangible to all.

"The elections may be any day now," he said.

EC briefs BN grassroots

While the mandate of the parliament officially ends in 2013, it has been standard practice for Malaysian prime ministers to dissolve the legislative body earlier for strategic reasons. This often takes place when public support for the ruling party is perceived to be at its zenith.

This has given the PM the power to hold everyone hostage at his discretion, on how early he chooses to dissolve parliament.

Speaking before Najib, Umno information chief Ahmad Maslan announced that since morning the Election Commission (EC) and the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) have been holding briefings for the thousands of Federal Territory BN grassroots and leaders at the various halls of the convention centre.

He also acknowledges the presence of other NGOs like Malay welfare association Pekida and those from "agencies and GLCs" who were also there in support of the BN function.

It is not known what the officials from government agencies and GLCs are doing at the BN event or what briefings they delivered to the party members.

However, prior to the arrival of Najib and his entourage, an unidentified man was observed briefing those in the hall on the alleged fallacies employed by the Pakatan Rakyat to purportedly smear the BN.

The speaker also showed slides featuring private investigator P Balasubramaniam ( left ), describing his statutory declaration linking the PM's wife to the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribuu as one example of Pakatan’s deception.

Pakatan bash fest

Also shown was a slide of former PKR representative and Kulim Bandar Baru MP Zulkifli Noordin, whom the speaker said had testified to how PKR would allegedly give rewards to those who will slander opposition targets.

The speaker then proceeded to demonise the Bersih 2.0 rally electoral reform rally on July 9 as Pakatan’s attempt to weaken the government.

He accused the opposition of using Bersih to dislodge the BN government by weakening public support for the executive, judiciary and enforcement branches of the government.