Galas victory important to gauge Malay support, says Ku Li
By The Malaysian Insider
GUA MUSANG, Oct 28 — Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said a victory in the Galas by-election is needed to prove Umno’s relevance to the Malay community.
The Gua Musang MP said the outcome of the November 4 polls would determine the acceptance of the Malay community to the party after its annual general assembly last week.
The Kelantan prince, popularly known as Ku Li (picture), also acknowledged the high number of non-Malay voters in the country.
“Although there are more than 20 per cent non-Malay voters, but it means a lot,” said the BN’s Galas by-election director in an interview with Utusan Malaysia published today.
PAS has been leading the Kelantan government since 1990, but won the Galas state seat for the first time in Election 2008.
In the 2008 general election, Umno also lost Kedah, a Malay-majority state, to PAS and its Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partners.
“Umno badly needs the support of the Malays, because it is a Malay party. If the Malay-majority states are not on Umno’s side, it is awkward for the party,” said Ku Li.
The Umno veteran, who refused to predict BN’s chances of winning the by-election, however said the campaign has been addressing issues affecting local voters.
“We believe that we will be able to solve strategic problems of the people like housing, their livelihood, low-cost houses that are being built by the government, incidentally during this election,” said Ku Li, who stressed that the housing project for Gua Musang squatters was planned before the by-election.
“It was planned a long time ago, but we sped up the construction, and the election was called,” he said.
Ku Li pointed out that the housing project would be able to change the public perception towards BN for its ability to offer affordable homes to the poor.
“Our aim is to solve the problem of illegal squatters in Gua Musang town,” he said on the project announced by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin last weekend.
“It is not an instant project, it has been approved for a very long time,” said Ku Li.
“This should have been implemented a long time ago, but because of the launch of 10th Malaysia Plan, it was postponed,” he said.
“Incidentally, the election was called. Like housing for the Orang Asli, I want it to be done fast too,” he added.
