PM to consider many factors in deciding on candidates – Yamani

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KENINGAU: Many factors will have to be taken into consideration in deciding on a candidate for the coming election but all these will eventually be resolved by the top leadership, said Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) Youth chief Datuk Yamani Hafez Musa, here.

“Even though many people have been asking, the decision is that of the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak) because he is wiser and aware of the current situation.

“The Prime Minister will consider many factors in selecting a candidate and I think he knows that to win the 14th general election (GE14), he has the opportunity to promote many new faces,” he said at a press conference after the Upper Interior level National Transformation 2050 (TN50) Dialogue held at the community hall here yesterday.

Yamani said if the leaders did not change some of BN’s leadership line-up, it may face a very difficult election as the Prime Minister’s interim candidate from the opposition is over 90 years old.

“In my personal opinion, I am very agreeable and I have stated this in the last colloquium that if we want to implement the TN50, we have to translate it in terms of the young people as potential candidates, as this is important not only for the younger generation but for the sustainability of the party itself.

“I feel if the party does not change in a balanced manner, it is likely to be irrelevant in the future, and this applies to all parties, not only the government but also the opposition parties,” he said.

Yamani said if the same person continued to be at the helm, in time the people will start to feel, maybe, a bit bored.

“This is my personal view, may be others have different views,” he said.

On the TN50 dialogue program, he said it was a follow-up to the program that was implemented last year where it was held in six districts comprising Ranau, Kota Marudu, Kadamaian, Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu and Long Pasia.

Yamani said this year’s TN50 was held for the first time in the interior, in Keningau, where youths from Tenom, Tambunan, Keningau and Pensiangan came down to attend the dialogue and expressed their ideas and aspirations for the next three decades.

“During the hour-long dialogue session, they presented their aspirations and ideas for the future transformation in the interior. I am also inspired by their views and convinced that the TN50 in the interior had brought much change to their mindset for the future.

Yamani, who is also Sabah Umno Youth chief, said he was pleased to see, at the seventh roadshow of the series, the collaboration, especially among the BN youth components in Interior, in successfully achieving its goals as there was an extraordinary understanding among them.

He also thanked those who participated in the program, including members of the coordinating committee for the program.