| |
KELANTAN: Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak has called on his party members to stop bickering in order to help the ruling coalition win back the state of Kelantan.
Political infighting within UMNO is not new.
In fact, some members who did not make it to the final list of candidates have been known to turn against the party.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak arrived in Kelantan with a warning to his party members.
His message was "no more sabotage".
Unhappy UMNO members, who've been dropped as candidates, have brought serious problems for the ruling coalition, especially in a tight contest.
In 2004, Mr Ibrahim Ali had run as an independent candidate, soon after he was not chosen as head of the UMNO division in Pasir Mas, Kelantan.
This former UMNO assemblyman was subsequently sacked from the party.
The former deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department went on to contest an independent even though he was well aware that victory was almost impossible.
But he did succeed in pulling away crucial votes from UMNO, and ensured victory for the opposition.
Ibrahim Ali, former UMNO member, said: "I decided to contest to send the message as a protest that they shouldn't do that to me being a staunch UMNO worker. Being the strongman of UMNO and when they did that to me, of course I cannot accept personally."
The Barisan Nasional takes this issue seriously, particularly in Kelantan where the margin of victory, is often very narrow.
Annuar Musa, the chairman of Kelantan Barisan Nasional, said: "This is not something unusual. But nevertheless being a state where the margin is very thin, you can't afford to have any bickering."
For Mr Ibrahim, his resentment has led him to take yet another step away from UMNO.
In this year's election, he will run not as an independent candidate but under the banner of the Islamic party, PAS.
He said: "They (UMNO) are the ones who betrayed me because they sacked me for no reason. I was elected as head of division democratically. I still feel sore with certain leaders who sacked me, who dropped me."
Cross-overs between parties have become quite common in Kelantan.
It became more widespread in the 1990 election with the creation of the splinter party, ‘Spirit of 46’ and in the 1999 election following the sacking of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Although the rift within UMNO is not as bad as before, disgruntled party members can still cost some votes. -CNA/vm
|
