Ghani warns Pakatan gunning for Umno heartland
(The Malaysian Insider) – KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is now training its sights on Umno’s Malay bastions in its pursuit of federal power, Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman warned his party in Johor today.
The Johor mentri besar said this was because PR has already locked up non-Malay support, adding that the opposition pact picked up 80 per cent of such votes in urban constituencies during Election 2008.
“The new approach, which was launched two years ago, is being ‘promoted’ with vigour after the recent Sarawak elections which saw the opposition winning many urban seats,” he was quoted as saying in a Bernama Online report today.
According to Ghani, who is state Umno liaison committee chairman, PR is attempting to convince the Malay community to reject Umno by voting for any candidate other than the Malay party’s in the upcoming general election.
He then urged the state’s Malays to put aside political affiliations and unite to combat what he described as moves to undermine the community’s future.
Increasing race rhetoric in recent days have sent clear signals of impending snap polls, which pundits predict Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will call for within the year.
The Malaysian Insider understands, however, that Najib is likely to delay snap polls until the end of this year or early 2012 as his party hunts for funds to finance a campaign to court Bumiputera and Indian voters and secure a two-thirds parliamentary majority.
It is understood Umno’s coffers were depleted after BN spent some RM500 million for the April 16 Sarawak election.
