The Barisan Nasional (BN) must strive harder to regain the Chinese support, apart from garnering full support from Malay voters to enable the coalition to rule the country, said Umno supreme council member Razali Ibrahim.

Razali, who is also deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said the BN needed at least 30 percent of the Chinese votes to build a strong government.

"We must not forget that Chinese voters helped the BN retained power in the 1999 general elections when Umno was split following the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim as deputy prime minister.

"Ironically, Chinese voters took advantage of the split among the Malays to vote the opposition in the hope that they could change the government," he told reporters here today.

On his election as Muar Umno division chief, Razali said he would strengthen the division's administration and machinery in the face of the next general election.

"I will seek the views of former Muar Umno division chief Mohd Ismail Mohd Shah and reconsolidate the division and branches by putting aside differences during the party polls," he said.

First-timer Razali won the Umno division chief post when garnered 366 votes to beat Umno Parit Tunggal branch chief Jalaludin Kassim by merely 19 votes.