Malaysian PM urges UMNO to unite, ditch "sabotage culture"

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak (AFP/File - Saeed Khan) 

KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has called on members of his ruling UMNO party to unite and ditch what he calls a "sabotage culture".

He said this is important if the party wants to do well at the upcoming general election.

Mr Najib, who is also UMNO president, was speaking at a closed-door briefing to party delegates ahead of its 66th General Assembly.

Mr Najib said the 13th General Election is a do-or-die battle for UMNO and the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

He said UMNO cannot afford to have any internal bickering at this point in time and the party, the delegates, must ditch the sabotage culture in order to win big in the coming general election.

Shahilia Shafiee, UMNO divisional chief for Taiping, said: "The message is very clear that we are facing the biggest election ever...and the message by the president is...for us to unite and fight the war. "

Rafidah Aziz, former chief of UMNO Wanita, said: "If the delegates realise that in 2008 we lost to some extent because of internal problems, we shall overcome this problem. We shall not repeat the mistakes we made. I can tell you we will win big."

Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's Home Minister, said: "There should not be any sabotage within the party, and the party's struggles must not be betrayed. 

"That is the main message by the party president and the tempo he has set for this General Assembly during the closed-door briefing."

In the last election in 2008, UMNO lost seats because of infighting and sabotage of candidates, and Mr Najib said that must stop in order to regain lost ground.

He also said that to win big, UMNO must be realistic - it needs the support of not just the Malay, but the non-Malay voters as well, so it must be inclusive in its approach.

Mr Najib said he needs a strong mandate in order to push through tough reforms under his economic and political transformation programmes.

He said UMNO has emerged stronger and he has worked hard to revive the party confidence, and all he needs now is for the party to be united and rally behind him to face the toughest electoral challenge in history.