KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 — Umno Youth has welcomed the decision of Barisan Nasional (BN) to field young candidates by up to 40 per cent in the upcoming Sabah State Election.
Its chief, Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said in order to ensure victory for BN, Umno Youth aimed to reach out and try to win the votes from young voters, targeting those aged 40 and below.
“Just like we did in Kimanis (by-election last January), our programmes were really focused and based on polling district centres. It was a successful strategy and will use it again in Sabah State Election.
“In Sabah, there are a lot of local issues that are currently being championed. We will leave it to the Sabah Youth leadership to continue championing those issues and we will highlight them as our main spokesmen and speakers.
“We will also help by bringing our machinery to Sabah to coordinate the operations and all campaign activities led by Sabah BN Youth,” he told reporters after attending Umno Youth monthly meeting, here today.
Umno is contesting 31 seats in the Sabah State Election on September 26.
A total of 73 seats are up for contest in this state election, including the 13 new seats that were created following a redelineation exercise. Nomination is set for Saturday.
Meanwhile, Asyraf Wajdi said the issue of Universiti Malaysia Sabah student, Veveonah Mosibin, had actually given a reality check on the poor telecommunication network and internet access in Sabah.
“We have to look at it from a broader perspective. Veveonah’s issue represents the reality in many other places in Malaysia.
“Without her, the issue of the digital gap may have not been discussed today. Her voice represents the voices of other rural students trapped in the digital gap issue, which may have been overlooked by the policy-makers,” he said.
Asyraf said Umno Youth offered three suggestions for the government to consider, which is to identify coverage gaps, improve and invest in telecommunication network infrastructure in rural areas.
“This is among the matters of Umno Youth’s concerns, but we don’t want to discuss who’s wrong or right. Let’s just move forward and discuss how we can solve the issues,” he added. — Bernama
