IPOH, Feb 18 (Bernama) — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tonight reminded the people not to sacrifice the future of the nation and their children by placing their faith in the opposition, which purportedly has formed an alternative front called the Barisan Alternatif (BA).
He said the BA was more of a hidden arrangement by the opposition parties to face the general election unlike the Barisan Nasional (BN), which was a coalition for all times.
“Are we to gamble the future of our nation and children… will we be able to sleep in peace if this so called BA is administering the country,” he said when attending a dinner hosted by the Perak BN election machinery at the Menteri Besar’s residence here.
Najib, who is also the BN’s election director, said the opposition parties, who were merely trying to copy the BN in forming an alliance, were actually extremists in disguise.
One wanted to form a theocratic state while another harboured visions of a secular nation on the premise of a Malaysian Malaysia, he said.
“Another party we can deem as irrelevant, which is the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)… we don’t know where to place this party as it holds only one seat in Parliament but is talking big about wanting to contest here and there,” he said to thunderous applause from those present.
The Deputy BN chairman also described PAS a party which always kept changing its tunes, at one time calling Umno members infidels then trying to introduce hudud laws but when both of these did not go down well with the people, started to bring up the issue of a welfare state to gain popularity.
He said the BN’s concept of power-sharing spoke for itself as it had been proven for 50 years now.
Najib said the BN would be coming out with its “bullets” one by one to show what the opposition really was when campaigning for the election began.
He urged BN supporters in Perak to get closer to the electorate to ensure a bigger victory for the coalition in the state this time around.
Also present were Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali and PPP president Datuk M. Kayveas.
— BERNAMA