Najib woos Chinese tycoons to help BN regain S'gor
With the 13th general election predicted to be held soon after the Chinese New Year, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak met with Chinese tycoons and organisation leaders at a private dinner last night.
Najib's aim was to woo Chinese support to help BN to win back its two-thirds majority in Parliament, and particularly to recapture the state of Selangor.
Najib's aim was to woo Chinese support to help BN to win back its two-thirds majority in Parliament, and particularly to recapture the state of Selangor.
Malaysiakini learnt that the dinner was held at the mansion of business tycoon Abu Sahid Mohamed in Kuala Lumpur.
About 80 tables were packed with leaders from various Chinese business circles and organisation leaders, among them the president of the Federation of Chinese Associations of Malaysia (Hua Zong) Pheng Yin Huah and the former president of The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM) William Cheng.
As the special guest of honour for the night, Najib tossed 'Yusheng' together with the other guests before delivering his speech.
According to a Merdeka Centre poll recently, Najib's popularity rating has dropped two points to 63 percent, from the 65 percent of last November.
The drop among Chinese voters was most significant, falling by 12 percent.
Oriental Daily had reported earlier that Najib would meet with Hua Zong and ACCCIM, to listen to the plight of the Chinese community.
During his speech last night, Najib asked the Chinese to continue to support BN in the next general election, and make sure that the BN parties would once again control two-thirds majority in Parliamentary.
“We don't want all the seats, as long as more than two-thirds are enough. As long as we can win back Selangor, especially, and the other states,” he said.
Two different governments cause trouble
Citing the recent water disruption issue in Selangor, the prime minister noted that the Pakatan Rakyat government of Selangor has caused a lot of trouble for the BN federal government.
Najib said the water issue would also affect businesses, projects and investments in the state.
“So what do we try to do? We’d tried to negotiate with Selangor, but it is easier to win back Selangor than it is to negotiate with the state government.
“If we have two different governments, it’s hard. They ‘tak ngam’ (against each other), When (they) ‘tak ngam’, it will cause problems.
“If you elect the same government, (at both) federal and state (levels), I can ensure you that we will have a much better future,” he added.
Najib said that although the BN was not a perfect coalition, it “will get the job done, and will bring Malaysia to greater heights”.
On the other hand, he said,the country would become static and would hardly be able to recover once it became regressive, which would be if the people made the wrong decision in the coming general election.
Vote BN to sleep easy at night
He warned that Pakatan would make the country's deficit reach 7.4 percent from the present 4.5 percent, and Malaysia would then be forced to borrow from others for operating expenses, should Pakatan implement all the “populist policies” stated in its Buku Jingga.
“As a businessman, you know that if you borrow from the bank to pay salaries for your employees, what does that tell you? It tells you that in no time, your business will go bankrupt,” Najib said.
Therefore, he called on all the Chinese businessmen to tell their employees that “BN is the right choice”.
He added: “If you want a government where you can sleep easy at night, if you want a government that can ensure certainty for the future, than support Barisan Nasional.”
