Barisan Nasional (BN) state chairpersons have been told to identify the constituencies where there were irregularities in the general election for the purpose of filing election petitions, said Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today.

The acting Umno deputy president said that counsel would also be engaged to ensure that there were strong grounds in the petitions to be filed.

"This is being carried out and coordinated by the Umno and BN headquarters," he was quoted as saying in a Bernama report.

Najib said the management committee of Umno and the BN would be notified of the outcome by the respective state BN chairs.

The deputy premier also stressed that the petitions to be filed would be based on rules and regulations and was not in reaction to the move by the opposition.

The opposition have filed several election petitions, including in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's constituency Kepala Batas.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Radzi Sheikh Ahmad was reported to have said that at least 12 election petitions were expected to be filed by the BN and the opposition parties within 21 days after the results of the general election were gazetted on April 12.

Radzi said that most of the petitions would likely be filed in Kelantan, Selangor, Perlis and Seberang Perai.

Abdullah was also reported to have said that BN would file several petitions in view of irregularities in the election results of several constituencies.

Positive attitude

In an unrelated development, Najib called for a 'positive attitude' towards the crisis-ridden national service training programme.

"If everybody adopts a positive attitude and understands that this programme is to further strengthen the nation-building process and to mould a solid Malaysian race, I believe we can make national service work," he said.

Najib also said that he was satisfied with the overall achievement and conduct of the programme despite the hiccups.

He said the people must bear in mind that this is the first time the programme is being carried out and therefore, it is not wise to gauge its success based on some incidents that had occurred.

"Although there are weaknesses, they can be rectified," he added.

Gathering feedback

Najib, who is also national service cabinet committee chairperson, was responding to questions on his assessment of the programme as the first batch of trainees would complete their three-month training on Saturday.

He said character-building programmes such as the national service needs time to determine the right training module in all aspects.

He added that in order to work on the shortcomings, trainees who are to complete their training would be given questionnaires to answer and would be interviewed to get their feedback.

Najib said feedback from their parents would also be gathered to make improvements to the programme.

In this pilot programme, 85,000 youths born in 1986 were picked at random to undergo three separate training modules at 41 camps and 22 tertiary learning institutions.

Since the programme commenced on Feb 16, it has been fraught with problems ranging from fights to allegations of sexual assault.

Critics have called for the immediate suspension of the programme, which they described as 'ill planned' and 'hastily implemented'.