KOTA KINABALU: Umno Penampang divisional chief Datuk John Ambrose has cautioned Barisan Nasional (BN) against fielding non-winnable candidates in the constituency for the 14th general election.
John who was speaking at the opening of Umno Penampang Women, Youth and Puteri joint delegates conference here yesterday, said while the ‘winds of change’ could be felt in Penampang, changes and sacrifices must be made by BN component parties to ensure victory for the coalition in the coming election.
“If you keep fielding candidates who no one wants, the people will not vote for them. BN component parties must therefore make a sacrifice so that we can win back the Penampang parliamentary and the Moyog as well as Kepayan state seats in the 14th general election,” he stressed.
The joint meeting was officiated by Umno Supreme Council member cum Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir.
John also claimed that the recent internal problems suffered by the division had somewhat contributed to BN losing the three seats in the 13th general election.
“In the past, BN won the three seats easily and that was because we in the division were united. But recently there were some internal issues and this was one of the reasons why BN failed to retain the seats.
“But the problems have been resolved and we are now united again and I am confident that we will be able to win back the Penampang parliamentary, Kepayan and Moyog state seats in the 14th general election,” he said.
To this end John said there was a need for the Women, Youth and Puteri movements to go down to the ground more frequently to find out and resolve issues affecting the people.
He added that there was also a need to register all Umno members who are aged 21 and above as voters as well as the need to increase the division’s membership.
“I want all branches to sign up five members every month so that we Umno Penampang can be a force to be reckoned with,” he stressed.
John also took to task those who insisted on making the ‘kalimah Allah’ an issue in Sabah as they were doing so for their own political mileage.
“This is a political game for these people because in actual fact this is a non-issue in Sabah. Even our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said that Sabah and Sarawak were free to use the ‘kalimah Allah’.
“The matter however has been manipulated by people playing their own political game,” he reiterated.
Meanwhile, Umno Penampang Puteri chief Dayang Sarinah Yassin in her speech suggested that Umno Penampang be given the mandate to contest in one of the seats in the constituency in the 14th general election.
She also proposed that a senator be appointed from the division.
Earlier in their meeting, the 83 Puteri Umno Penampang delegates passed two resolutions, namely to urge the central leadership to include more candidates from the younger generation in the 14th general election and to accord automatic membership to all women aged between 18 and 35 who sign up as members of the movement.