BN needs poster boy with ‘wow’ factor to regain Selangor, says Najib
(FMT) – Selangor Barisan Nasional (BN) needs to choose a poster boy with a “wow” factor for the next general election (GE15) if it harbours any hope of re-taking the state it lost in 2008, says Najib Razak.
Besides this, the former prime minister said Umno must stay true to the coalition’s spirit of working together with other races as it could never win Selangor if it depended solely on Malay support.
He said BN has already chosen Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to continue leading the country if it wins GE15 and now it was time for Selangor to choose its state-level poster boy.
“Choose the best poster boy, someone with a wow factor. As soon as his name is mentioned, the graph must rise. Only then, can we have any hope of winning back Selangor,” he said in his speech at the Selangor BN convention in Shah Alam.
When asked about who he thought would be the best poster boy for Selangor, he said he will leave it to the state BN leadership to decide.
While it is unclear who are the top picks for the role, finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz is believed to have received the endorsement of Umno’s top leaders to contest a parliamentary seat in Selangor, according to a news report.
This came after months of speculation that the former banker was looking to dip his toes into politics.
Najib said having a poster boy as the prospective menteri besar is part of BN’s winning strategy.
“This is besides having a good and workable manifesto, cooperation, as well as choosing candidates who are winnable, acceptable, likeable, and competent”.
“God-willing, we will have some hope of winning. I didn’t say that we will win, but at least some hope. That is good enough,” he added.
Najib also stressed that BN cannot count on the support of Malay voters alone if it wanted to win the state.
He called on Umno to work together with the other races as it needed to stay true to the spirit of BN.
The Pekan MP then raised the failures of the Pakatan Harapan state government, including the water shortage that happened frequently, which he said was due to the rejection of BN’s Pahang Selangor Raw Water Transfer (PSWT) project.
Najib claimed that the floods in Selangor happened because PH had rejected the BN-proposed Canal City project.
He said there is no mechanism to penalise politicians who make false promises and tell lies other than to punish them at the ballot box, citing the likes of Rafizi Ramli and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s pre-election pledges prior to GE14.
