ARAU: UMNO vice president Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin is optimistic that the people, especially Malays, will continue to support UMNO if the Unity Government, supported by the party and Pakatan Harapan, successfully administers the country effectively.
Mohamed Khaled stated that it is currently too early to conclude that Malay support for UMNO is diminishing, as the Unity Government is only a year old, and the party still needs to address matters related to Malay support.
“We do not deny that we still need to manage this matter (related to Malay support for UMNO), but Malays may also feel that they have not yet seen the effectiveness of the Unity Government, perhaps because it has only been a year (of the Unity Government).
“But maybe after three or four years, observing (the Unity Government) not threatening the position of Malays, not undermining Islam, if the government can deliver, bring about change, and so on, the people may change their support for the government, seeing the benefits it brings to them,“ he said.
Mohamed Khaled, who is also the Minister of Higher Education, told this to reporters after officiating Universiti Malaysia Perlis’ (UniMAP) TVET Centre at Kampus Alam, Pauh Putra here today. Also present was UniMAP Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Zaliman Sauli.
On Dec 4, the media reported former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad as claiming that the results of the Parliamentary by-election in Kemaman showed a decline in support for UMNO and would continue to decline as long as the party continued to collaborate with DAP.
UMNO deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan was reported as saying that efforts to regain Malay trust in UMNO were far from successful, but not impossible to achieve, despite being a challenging task.
In the recent Kemaman Parliamentary by-election, PAS retained the seat through its candidate Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, who secured a majority of 37,220 votes after obtaining 64,998 votes, defeating Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Lt (R) Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor, who received 27,778 votes.–Bernama
