KUALA BESUT, July 17 — Kuala Besut youths were told today to vote Barisan Nasional's (BN) candidate in the upcoming by-election to ensure the continuity of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the head of the coalition.
The remark by Umno Youth chief and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (picture) follows recent warnings by Malay rights groups early this month that a loss in Kuala Besut would be a “great slap” for the BN chairman and Umno president.
"We don't want to see the position of BN and Najib Razak, who is the BN chairperson and Umno president, threatened by what is happening in Kuala Besut," Khairy said during an event by his ministry here, referring to the potential hung assembly in the state.
A PAS win will see both BN and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat each holding 16 state seats resulting in a hung assembly. In such a case, Terengganu’s Sultan Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin would be obliged to choose the new mentri besar whom he believes to command the confidence of the majority of the assembly, or call for a fresh state election just months after Election 2013.
PAS has banked on the possibility in its campaign here, using the "16:16 Terengganu Baru" (16:16 a new Terengganu) slogan.
In response, BN had used the slogan "Kuala Besut bertambah biru" (Kuala Besut growing blue) -- in reference to the colour of the coalition's logo -- in addition to the "Gelombang Biru" (blue wave) movement.
Khairy alluded to the movement today to warn of the dangers of a possible state election if a hung assembly happens.
"If we lose and there is a state election, there will come a wave which is not a blue one ... a shock that will jolt the Parliament," he added.
Kuala Besut is considered an Umno stronghold, with the party having won there with comfortable margins of over 2,000 votes in the two previous elections.
However, Najib’s post as Umno chairman ― and, by extension, prime minister ― could hinge on the by-election result, as the Malay nationalist party will hold its internal polls later this year.
His contemporaries in Umno have pledged to leave the posts of chairman and deputy chairman uncontested, but a challenge might yet be seen, especially after BN’s dismal result in the May polls.
In the general election, BN not only failed to recapture its coveted parliamentary supermajority but also lost further ground to Pakatan Rakyat (PR), when it took 133 seats to the opposition pact’s 89.
It also nearly lost Terengganu, surviving with just a two-seat lead in the assembly over PR’s 15.
In Election 2013, BN's Dr A. Rahman Mokhtar had defeated PAS’s Napisah Ismail with a comfortable 2,434-vote majority. The state seat has 17,679 registered voters, of whom 98 per cent are Malays.
