Najib says Umno must be leader of the pack
By G. Manimaran, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — Umno must remain decisive for the coming general elections as its allies in Barisan Nasional are still weak two years after the unprecedented losses in Election 2008, Datuk Seri Najib Razak advised his party colleagues over the weekend.
It is understood that the Umno president told divisional leaders at a retreat that they cannot completely rely on the component parties to face the 13th General Election on their own including the decision on candidates to be fielded.
“Datuk Seri Najib said Umno cannot completely allow the component parties to decide on everything as they have internal problems and are not that strong,” said a divisional leader who attended the Umno retreat in Janda Baik on Friday and Saturday.
The prime minister, who is BN chairman, briefed all divisional leaders in the two-day retreat after listening to report cards and future strategies tabled by state leaders.
The leaders also listened to briefings from guests including Senator Tamura Kotaro, who is from the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan that lost in 2007 and 2009 after staying power since World War 2.
The Malaysian Insider understands that Najib explained the difficulty for BN to select its candidate for last week’s Hulu Selangor by-election due to objections from various quarters within and without the coalition.
In his speech, the BN chairman gave reasons behind the coalition leadership rejecting four-term MP Datuk G. Palanivel’s candidacy despite a strong endorsement from MIC president Datuk Seri G. Samy Vellu.
This lead to a compromise candidate, MIC information chief P. Kamalanathan, being named the BN Hulu Selangor candidate two days before nomination day after Samy Vellu and MIC gave their nod following protracted negotiations with Umno.
