BN Will Be Victorious In All States, Says Abdullah

PENANG, March 6 (Bernama) -- After 12 days of election campaigning, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is confident the Barisan Nasional (BN) would win big on Saturday including in the two "hot states" of Kelantan and Penang.

He said that based on the feedback obtained from the people, the BN would be given a resounding mandate to administer the country for another five years.

"We can win, God willing. We can also win in Kelantan and Penang," he told reporters after launching a project to upgrade Penang Hospital's heart and surgery wing, here today.

He said this when asked to comment on how the BN would perform in Saturday's election.

Abdullah also said that the various races should back candidates from the BN component parties representing them to ensure they were adequately represented in the government.

He said that he did not want the government to be formed after the election to be mostly made up of one race but wanted all races in the country to be represented in the Cabinet.

"Only then will it be a government of all Malaysians as everyone's voice can be heard (in the Cabinet).

"If the Chinese are to withdraw their support for the BN (in the election), there will be nobody to represent their interests in the Cabinet.

How to appoint a minister (from the Chinese community) if all Chinese candidates lose (in the parliamentary seat contests)," he said.

He said this had happened before at the state level when after the 1990 election, the MCA and MIC had no representation in the Penang State Assembly and only then did the realisation hit them.

That year Umno won 12 state seats, Gerakan seven while MCA and MIC nil. The DAP won 14 seats.

Abdullah said such a situation would not be good for the BN coalition and as such, hoped the people would think very carefully about it.

"This is very important for the future of all Malaysians.

You want more voice in Parliament or you want voice in the cabinet that can be more effective in presenting the views of all races," he said.

Asked to comment on remarks by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that there should be an opposition in Parliament, he said: "We always have opposition in the country.

That is not a problem. There will always be opposition."

-- BERNAMA