KUALA LUMPUR - Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said he would not delay the date for the 15th General Election (GE15), not even for a second, once Barisan Nasional is fully ready with the preparations.
He said that to hold the general election, they have to go through the appropriate processes, including discussing the matter with the top five and bringing the matter to the political bureau.
"I made the promises to discuss the matter with Umno’s top five leaders during the assembly and in Umno, we have a process so we (need) to follow the process and only then will we be able to make the decision,” he told the reporters after BN’s convention at World Trade Center, today.
The top five in Umno refer to party president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and the three vice-presidents, namely Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid and Ismail Sabri himself.
In this regard, Ismail Sabri proposed three actions to be taken by BN in its preparation for the upcoming GE15.
He said the first was the need for BN to always strive to achieve a first-class work culture, namely teamwork, discipline and loyalty to the party.
"Loyal BN leaders and members are around not only during good times but remain loyal when facing challenges. Those in this hall, their loyalties have been tested. They never turned their backs on the party even when faced with threats and pressure, as well as lucrative offers,” he said.
The second, Ismail Sabri said, was to win the hearts of the people and, with him as the prime minister, would ensure policies that benefit the people.
"Apart from that, the best service should be given to the people. The government is always concerned for the people and looking for the best and immediate initiatives to solving local problems,” he said.
He said the third action is to formulate the GE15 victory strategy, focusing on strengthening the component parties' election machinery.
In conjunction with the BN convention, Ismail Sabri said it was important for BN pledges to be renewed, namely the pledge to the people, the pledge to be the best and the pledge to continue the struggle to uphold Malaysia.
"Let us pledge to strengthen cooperation among the component parties. We also need to stay away from external elements that can cause a rift among us,” he added.
In the same development, Umno chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that BN had made the preparations not only on the election machinery but the ways to implement it would also be different from previous elections.
"It is different because we were the federal and dominant government at that moment,” he told the reporters after the BN’s convention.
He added that BN is taking the approach to consolidate the internal leadership line, uniting all the machineries and implementing the five focuses mentioned in the speech as the strategy for BN/Umno to win the election.
The five focuses include BN to step out of the old framework in terms of seat distribution formula in the face of the GE15, presenting new faces for BN’s leadership, BN to be more inclusive and open, offer an agenda of reform and improvement to further strengthen governance, administration and transparency as well as returning Malaysia’s economy towards developed country.