KUALA LUMPUR: Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has issued a warning that Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) will lose their position as the ruling government if there is no new initiative implemented to ensure that the party remains relevant.
Muhyiddin, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, said the current situation showed that 44 parliamentary seats belonging to the BN were categorised as ‘grey’ and if the votes declined by merely two per cent, they would lose the minimum majority to form the government.
“(Based on the results of the 13th General Election) BN has 44 seats that are ‘grey’, where we won with a majority of between 0.1 and 5.9 per cent only.
A drop of merely two per cent will mean the BN will have 103 parliamentary seats, less than 112 (minimum majority) and the BN will lose.
“Two per cent is not much, if you count the parliamentary divisions, if the total vote is so much, count a drop of two per cent, then we will be in a precarious position,” he said in his winding-up speech at the 2014 Umno General Assembly, at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), here yesterday.
When delivering his speech, Muhyiddin also presented an infographic visual showing that the trend of support for the BN had been declining from the 11th general election (11GE) (in 2004) up to the 13th general election (2013).
He said it was important for the Umno and BN people to take new initiatives immediately to ensure that the people’s support returned to the government.
“We have less than 39 months before the next general election is held.
“The question is what new initiatives can we implement within the short time to regain confidence, correct the perception, which have been debated at the Puteri, Youth and Wanita wings,” he said.
However, he added, the situation could change if the Umno and BN members played their part well, and if the people’s support increased to five per cent (only), then the two-thirds majority could be achieved.
For the top leadership level, Muhyiddin drew the delegates’ attention that the Umno president, who is also Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, would spend more time to visit the divisions that were facing problems.
Muhyiddin said the move was a strong commitment from the president to listen personally to the problems faced by the divisons, and to draw up a more suitable strategy to resolve them.
— Bernama