Rise and fight, party warriors urged
In an emotionally-charged speech, the Umno deputy president wants the party wings to close ranks to champion the party’s cause.
(Bernama) – Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin tonight called on every member of the party to soldier on and struggle to win every vote from the people to ensure victory for Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 13th general election.
Referring to the Wanita Umno movement as the party’s female warriors, Umno Youth as the war chiefs and Puteri Umno as the jewels of the party, Muhyiddin wanted the strength of the three wings to be mobilised so that they could be a fortress for the party.
“Let’s close ranks to champion the party’s cause! Let us stand solidly by the side of party president (Najib Tun Razak). Rise up and defend the continuity of the Malay race! Rise up to carry the party’s flag and fight! Let’s advance and defeat our enemies ahead. Ensure that victory is ours,” he said in a
highly motivated tone when opening the simultaneous general assembly of the Umno Wanita, Youth and Puteri movements 2011 at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), here today.
The deputy prime minister wanted all the party wings to go down on the ground in all the 222 parliamentary constituencies, 576 state assembly constituencies and 7,470 district polling centres to ensure that all the votes were in favour of Barisan Nasional (BN).
“The war drum has been struck. The warriors’ strategy has been drawn up. Rise up and fight! Go (to all the constituencies).
“Don’t leave out anything. Don’t forget anything. Get every vote from every constituency. Remember, even one vote will decide our victory,” he said.
In his speech, Muhyiddin again reminded all the party wings to discharge their moral responsibility as Umno warriors to assist the people by paying attention to the problems of the people, feel their pulse, listen to their woes and problems.
As for the Wanita movement, Muhyiddin reminded them to strengthen activities for the People’s Network and intensify the “Caring Squad” activities with a proper and well-planned approach as the influence of this party wing was very strong in the community.
“The study on attitude must be accurate, coordination and cooperation with the divisional leadership must be strong,” he said.
For the Umno Youth, Muhyiddin wanted the wing to strengthen the members’ mental and physical strength to fight in the most difficult war in the history of the party besides understanding the aspiration of the generation that was also within their age group.
“Mobilise your youth frontline, let they be a strong fortress for Umno. Get down to the grassroots, get closer and understand the aspiration of the generation within your age group,” he said.
A do-or-die battle
Muhyiddin also wanted the Puteri movement to regain its glory as the wing that provided protection to the young women and to bring them into the Umno fold so that the party could become stronger.
He said every member was responsible in determining that the strength of the party could only be achieved if they were always united (wahdatul qalb), be of one mind (wahdatul fikr), united in their deeds (wahdatul amal) and united in their objectives (wahdatul hadf) and to put aside the differences and disputes existing in the party.
“Don’t desert the battlefield. Don’t admit defeat before fighting. Don’t shame the party. Don’t sabotage (the party). Don’t boycott (the campaign). Don’t play out your colleagues. Avoid infighting. Don’t shut down the operations room. Don’t leave the country. Avoid back-stabbing. Don’t do anything that can jeopardise the party’s chances of winning the election.
“Remember that the election is a do-or-die battle. Remember that winning the election is not a personal victory, but a victory for the party,” he said.
On the election candidates, Muhyiddin wanted the three party wings to give full confidence to the party leadership’s choice.
“The candidates are the party’s weapons for victory. Let us give our full confidence to the top leadership to decide on this matter. What is important is that our candidates must be of calibre, knowledgeable, of high integrity, people-oriented, clean, sincere, trustworthy, of high morals and acceptable to the people. Let us accept the decision of the top leadership. Give our solid support to all our candidates. Mobilise our machinery to assist them,” he said.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said as an organisation, Umno was not spared from any shortcomings and weaknesses.
“We always strive to carry out changes and improve the weaknesses without sacrificing the principles of our struggle,” he added.
