KUALA LUMPUR : Datuk Seri
Najib Razak said the Chinese community who likes his leadership, must give
solid support to Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) if they want him to bring more
successes to the nation through the national transformation programme.
The prime minister said this
in a special interview prior to the 66th Umno general assembly next week, when
asked to comment on remarks by political observers, that some parties in the
Chinese community liked Najib’s leadership but not his party and BN, and were
divided over giving support.
Najib, who is also Umno
president, in the one-hour interview with Bernama and Utusan Malaysia,
nevertheless, said he saw the wind of change blowing in the level of support
towards the government including from among the Chinese community compared to
2008 because they liked the government’s direction.
Commenting further on the
parties in the Chinese community who were still divided in their support of the
government, he said: “If they want me as the PM who can bring transformation to
the nation, as they had been convinced all these while, they must give their
support to me.”
“Because a strong PM is a PM
who has comprehensive support, so that more successes can be brought to the
nation,” he added.
Najib said a prime minister
without a comprehensive mandate was weak and could be disputed, including
whatever innovation he wanted to implement because any change would face many
challenges.
“A leadership without
political support is a leadership without moral strength. If a leader has no
moral strength, the leader will find it hard to face challenges to bring about
big changes to the nation,” Najib said.
Since becoming prime
minister in April 2009, Najib has introduced numerous comprehensive
transformation programmes encompassing the government delivery system and
politics and economy which were starting to show very positive preliminary
results.
The prime minister said
although Umno or BN had several weaknesses, yet they were much better if
compared to the opposition pact.
“So if they don’t like UMNO
or BN, at least we are solid, having the same aim and talking in the same tone
compared to the opposition who are basically at odds, even in terms of
ideology. They are also not in tune (among the opposition) as to who will
become the PM.
Najib also said in national
political system, if the groups liked his leadership, whether they wanted to or
not they must give support to his party, namely, Umno and BN.
“Otherwise, another party
will be PM and not me. This means, someone else they don’t want will become PM.
And the pillar in our system is whoever becomes the PM,” he said.
Commenting further on the
increase in support from the Chinese community towards the current government,
Najib said he was aware that a change in attitude took time.
Conceding that the
government had problems with Chinese voters, he said, nevertheless, the
government should not shunt them aside but to intensify engagements to
understand their needs and demands, and respond accordingly.
He said he understood the
Chinese in towns were not overly dependent on the government but they must be
aware their successes as individuals and a community were the result of
government policies.
“The government created
conducive surroundings where they can find business opportunities,
opportunities to develop themselves. If they look at the future, they would
also need a country that is well-administered.
“So BN can do this and make
adjustments to our policies they are unhappy about and the weaknesses they say
we must correct… for example crimes in towns.”
He stressed that so long as
the people were not satisfied with the rate of drop in crimes, the effort would
be escalated to erase all their concerns.
Najib also refuted
allegations by opposition parties that Umno was racist when urging towards the
unity of Malays, and purportedly, its struggle was only in the interest of
Malays.
“Malay unity does not mean
we oppose other races because, as I had said, we must bring other communities
together with us.”
“We have carried this spirit
since long ago from the time of Tunku (Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj) and Tun Razak
(Hussein). Why should we set aside what had been founded by our founding
fathers.”
Najib stressed that the
current Umno leaders, like its founding fathers who set up the Alliance and
then BN, were aware the strength of the country hinged on cooperation between
the communities.
“This we must hold on to,”
he said, adding that several actions which gave the perception that Umno was
racist should and would be corrected.
Najib said, when the
government introduced the 1 Malaysia concept, all communities understood
better, that, in this country, all communities must benefit from the national
leadership.
He said, as a result of the
efficiency in the administration of the country, the government could ensure
quite a strong national economic growth, whereby, the third quarter of this
year recorded a 5.2 per cent growth and 300,000 jobs were created.
The increase in foreign
direct investment continued to go up from RM5 billion in 2009 to RM29.3 billion
in 2010 and RM36.6 billion last year.
“All these achievements,
people say went against the world economy,” he said, adding that the nation
developed a high level of confidence with the achievements.
The prime minister said the
policies and programmes of the opposition as contained in their “Orange Book”
and 2013 Budget did not get rave reviews from economists.
“If we ask investment
bankers and their fund managers’ financial analysts, they do not give a high
valuation to what was forwarded by the opposition. This means that they only
see BN as a viable government.”
He said the current national
transformation programme to boost Malaysia into becoming a developed and
high-income nation could not possibly be achieved in three or four years but
needed a much longer time.
“President (Barack) Obama
also demanded another term as president (of the United States) because he said
it was impossible to make amends on what was done during the tenure of
(President George) Bush, in four years.
Furthermore, Najib said if
BN received a strong mandate from the people in the 13th general election, God
willing, he would commit himself to using his post and the strength of moral
leadership to carry out greater and grander achievements for Malaysia. (Bernama)
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