Muhyiddin Outlines Seven Principles To Ensure Election Victory

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 (Bernama) -- Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today outlined seven principles to be complied with to ensure victory for Umno and the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 13th general election. The seven principles are to obey the leader; draw up correct strategies; understanding the role and responsibility which must be carried out diligently; knowing the enemies in the general election particularly the opposition; strengthening solidarity at all levels of the party; ensuring preparedness to face the election 'war' and to fight all out right up to the last minute. "The seven principles that I mentioned here will be disseminated so that they could be studied at all levels of the leadership and party members throughout the country to ensure that we achieve victory. "We want to ensure that our strongholds are defended so that the areas that we had lost can be regained," he said when winding up the debate at the Umno General Assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre, here. Clarifying further on the seven principles, the deputy prime minister said loyalty to the leaders was appropriate and, in fact, must be complied with by all Umno members. "We must accept all decisions to be made by our party leader on matters pertaining to the general election, whether concerning the tasks and responsibilities that must be carried out, the selection of candidates or the election constituencies allocated to every component party," he said. Muhyiddin said Umno must draw up the correct strategy to defend its existing strength by ensuring that the areas and states that the BN had won in the last general election remained in the hands of the BN and to regain the areas and states that it had lost, so that the party would achieve a bigger victory in the 13th general election. "As such, it is crucial that the leadership at the state, divisional and branch levels translate and implement all matters decided at the federal and state levels effectively to gain bigger support from the people," he said. He said party members must understand the roles and responsibilities that must be carried out diligently to face the challenge from the opposition. "All the deviationist ideologies that they practise can bring negative effects on our (future) generation, thus they cannot be left unchecked," he said. Besides knowing the party's enemies, namely PAS, DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Muhyiddin said Umno members must know the activities carried out by the opposition at the national, division and branch levels. He said they must ensure that the operations carried out by the opposition did not penetrate the Umno areas. For this purpose, he said the three wings of the party, namely Youth, Wanita and Puteri, must strengthen solidarity and coordinate activities at all levels. "All our infantry namely the Wanita, Youth and Puteri leadership at the divisional and state levels must move in a coordinated manner to ensure there is no dispute," Muhyiddin said. The people, he said, had realised that Umno and the BN had brought exceptional transformation and they now wanted to see strong solidarity in Umno. Regarding Umno's preparedness, Muhyiddin pointed out that every second was important and party members must ensure their physical, mental and spiritual preparation to face the challenge form the 'war' was good. "In order to ensure that we are in a state of actual preparedness, we will ensure that the war rooms set up at the state and division levels and those given the responsibility to do so were fully mobilised beginning today until the election is announced by the party president," he said. Muhyiddin drew attention to the operations of the opposition which appeared to be increasingly affected and might be desperate following the Umno general assembly which had strengthened the party's resolve to fight all out. He also reminded Umno members to work hard as shown by the party president.