Barisan Nasional on 5th gear

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KUALA LUMPUR: Election machinery going full swing, on standby for PM’s dissolution announcement.

The Barisan Nasional (BN) publicity machinery for the 13th General Election has shifted into 5th gear as everything now looks set for the polls.

BN information and publicity chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan said his team was on standby for the announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib to dissolve the parliament and were already in full swing.

“The instruction from the prime minister is accelerating and shifting into 5th gear. It’s no longer 3rd or 4th gear. We are in full swing, save for some minor adjustments.”

In an exclusive interview here recently, Ahmad revealed that he had met the BN publicity chiefs of the 12 states in Peninsular Malaysia and would meet his counterparts in Sabah and Sarawak on the 28th and 30th of this month respectively to complete the rounds.

Ahmad also said that all the potential candidates for the state and parliamentary elections had been identified although the BN supreme council had not asked for the submission of the final list yet.

“We are confident that the component parties are able to submit the list of candidates and their personal details within 24 hours. They only need to pick one from the 4 or 5 candidates identified.”

When asked on the possibility of swapping seats among the component parties, Ahmad said, “There is a possibility. But the component parties must reach a consensus to an arrangement that will ensure victory.”

However, he added that BN chairman and deputy chairman have not discussed the issue.

Ahmad admitted that there were internal problems within Umno and other BN component parties but he declined to dwell further on this situation.

On a personal note, Ahmad said he was only 43 when he was appointed Umno chief of information and publicity three years ago and was recently promoted to BN information and publicity chief.

“Prime Minister had in fact executed many policies and issues against the tradition. The information and publicity chief was traditionally held by senior leaders at least carrying the title of Tan Sri or an older leader.”

Ahmad said that Najib’s 1Malaysia concept, political and economic transformation programme had been well received by the people.

“The challenge for BN and Umno now is not Anwar, the challenges are the economy, inflation and unemployment.”

He added the other challenge was to ensure the people could reap the benefits of programmes like 1Malaysia clinic, 1Malaysia home and BR1M implemented by the government to help them directly.

“We have to focus and stand on our strong points, not depending on the weak points of the opposition.”