No need to bring up BN’s past mistakes, says Muhyiddin
(The Malaysian Insider) – Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin said although the prime minister admitted Barisan Nasional’s (BN) mistakes, “there is no need to list out our weaknesses; that is in the past”.
“What is more important is in front, in the next 10, 20 years and as the prime minister said, we are ready to improve ourselves and improve on what we have already accomplished such as the national transformation programmes, which includes the economy, government, politics, rural issues and new measures taken by the prime minister and the government, which have an effective impact.
“The people have accepted the concept of 1 Malaysia and there is a new feeling of confidence in Barisan Nasional among the people,” Muhyiddin told reporters after the launch of the World Kidney Day here at Dataran Merdeka.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak apologised yesterday for BN’s past mistakes, which led to the loss of its two-thirds parliamentary majority and four states in 2008, recognising the groundswell against the ruling coalition remains ahead of a general election that must be held by next year.
“I believe that we should not be arrogant. In a parliamentary democracy, we have to subject ourselves to the power of the people. We must have made mistakes for the people to have rejected us,” Najib was quoted as saying in Kedah yesterday by Bernama Online.
“We apologise for our past mistakes. The victors apologise, as do the losers.”
The prime minister said the BN would rectify the mistakes and make up by serving the people as best as it could.
The voters’ rejection of the BN, like in Kedah, was in a way due to the mistakes made by the coalition, Najib said during a day-long visit to the state.
Today, his deputy said that the prime minister’s apology was an act of humility.
“We, as humans, of course have weaknesses; nobody is perfect and the Barisan Nasional government is aware of our weaknesses and may have made some mistakes.
“However, in the past 54 years, nobody can deny the fact that, even with our weaknesses, we have succeeded with major developments in economy, social, culture, education, international relations and many more,” Muhyiddin said.
The Malaysian Insider understands that the latest Umno surveys show that there could be a repeat of the Election 2008 results but with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) getting at least 87 federal seats, five more than in 2008.
Among the issues blighting BN’s efforts to garner more support include a civil service pay revamp that has gone awry, the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal involving a minister’s family, and the Lynas Corp rare earth refinery operations which has seen growing opposition to its plan to keep radioactive waste in the country.
BN won 140 seats in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat with the remainder going to PR but a series of defections has seen the opposition dropping to 76 seats. It also lost Perak to BN in 2009 after three PR lawmakers quit to be independents supporting the federal coalition.
PR now holds Kelantan, Kedah, Penang and Selangor but a brewing leadership crisis in Kedah could tilt the rice-bowl state back to BN in the next election, which must be called before May next year.
Speculation has been rife that the 13th national polls will be called soon.
But Najib has yet to indicate when he will dissolve Parliament, which will start its 2012 sitting next week.
