We can wrest Selangor back, says DPM

SELAYANG, Malaysia - The "environment" is right for Barisan Nasional to wrest Selangor back but success will depend on whether Umno members can refrain from acts of sabotage, set aside personal disappointments and work together.

Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said in the four years of Pakatan Rakyat rule, many issues and problems had cropped up which the state had failed to resolve.

He said wherever he went in Selangor, the public and the business community would complain about the state government.

"It may not be an easy battle but the environment is right for us to take back Selangor.

"These unresolved issues provide us with the right ingredients to convince the people that Pakatan does not have the ability to administer the state.

"The question now is whether Umno members are ready to face this challenge wholeheartedly and not let personal issues get the better of them," he said when opening the Selayang Umno division meeting yesterday.

Muhyiddin, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said he had met certain Umno division leaders over internal problems.

"I know there are still squabbles in some divisions," he said.

"Some are still holding grudges over not being MPs or state reps and some are bitter over what had happened at the last party election. It is time to stop this resentment, especially if you want Barisan Nasional to win and not be under Pakatan's rule," he added.

Muhyiddin added that he had been doing some "political auditing" to gauge the party's readiness and had detected some unpreparedness, particularly at district voting centres.

He said these needed to be checked because there would be consequences, citing the 2004 general election as an example where Barisan had failed to wrest Kelantan from PAS after it narrowly lost a seat by a mere two votes.