Khairy (seated middle) with the other BN youth leaders at the press conference.
KOTA KINABALU: Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Youth wing warned the people against allowing a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ cum ‘dictator’ to govern the country once again, a clear reference to former Prime Minister turned opposition leader, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad.
When met at a press conference here on Saturday, its national youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin came to the topic of Mahathir when a reporter had brought up the issue of the #UndiRosak, a campaign that has caused a stir as it encourages young voters to spoil their ballot papers in the upcoming 14th General Election (GE14).
Khairy described the youths who chose to subscribe to the idea of #UndiRosak, as disillusioned Pakatan Harapan supporters who had lost confidence in the coalition following its decision to appoint Mahathir as their interim president.
“To them, Mahathir was the mastermind behind all the problems currently faced by the country. When he was chosen as the party’s interim Prime Minister, it was seen as a breach of trust.
“It is as if Pakatan Harapan had broken their promise and their trust in the (struggle of) Reformasi. So in that case, I would like to invite all those who are thinking of spoiling their vote to support Barisan Nasional.
“We cannot possibly allow the man who is responsible for a lot of the problems that we still face today to govern the country again…and you know, those in the opposition have said that Mahathir is a ‘changed man’, (he is actually) a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Once a dictator, always a dictator,” Khairy stressed.
He cited the attack on the judiciary, lopsided agreements, legacy issues, toll issues, privatisation agreements, which had highly favoured private corporations instead of the public as some of Mahathir’s mistakes during his era.
In the context of East Malaysia, Khairy cited the ‘one-sided developments’ as one of the major issues faced by the Sabahans and Sarawakians.
Khairy claimed that Mahathir had favoured the Klang Valley more than Sabah and Sarawak, so much so that he failed to implement development in those two states.
Khairy stressed that this failure has now been rectified under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
“If you look at Sabah and Sarawak, the relative neglect under Mahathir’s time as Prime Minister is well known. Now (under a new leadership), you have the Pan Borneo Highway, increased investments into education and schools in rural areas in Sabah and Sarawak…” he said.
At the same press conference, he also revealed that the youth wing of Barisan Nasional (BN) have submitted a list of its proposed young candidates to the party’s leadership.
He said that for this time around, BN Youth wing had proposed more young candidates, as compared to the number of young candidates that they had suggested in the previous election.
However, he explained, it would be up to the party’s leadership to decide whether or not these proposed candidates would actually be fielded in GE14.