KOTA BAHARU: Kelantan Umno liaison chief Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed has spelled out several key factors which are crucial to Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) in its quest to win back Kelantan from PAS in the 13th general election.
Mustapa, who foresees the coming polls to be the most intense ever in the country’s election history, said Kelantan Umno and BN must be strong to be able to enter the fray and emerge the winner.
“Alhamdulillah our leader, (Prime Minister) Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is strong and so is his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin; but that is not enough if Kelantan Umno and BN are not strong. Everyone of us should be strong because only then people will accept us,” he said in an interview with Bernama here.
Mustapa, who is Jeli member of parliament and International Trade and Industry Minister, said the choice of candidates would be ‘extremely important’ in winning back Kelantan after 22 years of PAS’ rule.
PAS wrested Kelantan from the BN in 1990. In the 12th general election in 2008, PAS won 30 state seats, BN won six, and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), one. PAS also won nine parliamentary seats, PKR won three and BN, two.
Mustapa said although it has not been finalised yet, Kelantan Umno has come up with a list of ‘winnable candidates’ for the election.
“In the past, there might have been some miscalculations in several areas. Generally, the candidates were good but might not be suitable to be fielded in certain areas and that was why we lost in those seats,” he said.
This time around, he said, Umno should be more careful and field only those who are truly capable of winning.
“This concept of winnable candidates is not just about being popular in Umno but also about being accepted by all. If they are popular only in Umno, then they will lose for sure. They should not contest; because they will lose the battle on the very first day,” he said.
“Winnable candidates are those who are popular with the people, non-governmental organisations, civil servants, police, the armed forces, veterans and so on.”
“They must be able to attract the interest of people,” Mustapa said. “They must have the ‘oomph’ — the wow factor — to attract people; not just Umno people but all the voters, fence-sitters or otherwise.”
It was therefore crucial, he said, for Kelantan Umno members and leaders to accept the decision of party leadership on the choice of candidates and not resort to the ‘chah keting’ practice or back-stabbing if they are not chosen because this would mean giving advantage to the opponents.
Those who aspire to become candidates should assess their own capabilities and not try assert themselves because this might prove to be counter-productive.
“Those who try to do so would normally be rejected. If one asserts himself as someone who is qualified, it maybe because he is not,” he said, adding that Umno was aware of the fact that there might be many winnable candidates in an area, making it difficult to choose the right one.
“So we choose the best among the winnables,” he added.
The rest of the winnable candidates should be patient and accept the reality that the party can only choose one, he said.
“Don’t do anything detrimental to the party, don’t resort to sabotage. It’s important to have discipline because in this fight, we want to win.”
“If we resort to rebellious attitude and sabotage, this will weaken the party and our struggle to wrest back Kelantan from PAS will be rendered futile,” he said.
Observers have been alluding to the fact that Umno lost Kelantan in 1990 not due to the strength of PAS but because the party had been weakened by the practice of “chah keting” by those who failed to get posts at the divisional level and boycotted their own divisions’ election campaign. — Bernama