KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak has declared his intention to have Bandar Tun Razak, named after his father, the late Tun Abdul Razak, regain its ‘blue’ status as a Barisan Nasional area.
The Barisan Nasional chairman said although he is disappointed that Bandar Tun Razak is not a BN stronghold, he wants that to change in the 14th General Election.
“I am upset when I come to Bandar Tun Razak, upset because this area bears my father’s name. And yet, it is not under BN. I have asked why and where the fault lies, but I see that we now have an opportunity to get it back.
"I am Tun Razak’s son, help me and my family. Let’s bring Bandar Tun Razak back to BN," he said.
Najib was speaking during a hi-tea session with the people, held at the Sri Johor public housing project here on Tuesday.
Present were BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Bandar Tun Razak MCA division chairman Datuk Chew Yin Keen, Bandar Tun Razak Umno chief Datuk Rizalman Mokhtar, and BN candidate for the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat Adnan Seman.
Najib advised the public to vote for a candidate who is not championing his own agenda, but one with an agenda for the people. That is why, he said, BN’s candidates for GE14 underwent a stringent vetting process before finally being selected.
“We see the opposition selecting candidates who do not serve the people and as a result, constantly shift seats. These sort of people cannot be relied upon, they have no love for Bandar Tun Razak, which to them is just a stepping stone to enable them to enter Parliament,” he said.
Najib said it is important for the people of Bandar Tun Razak to have a candidate who understands the pulse of the locals.
“We don’t want someone from the outside who is constantly changing and shifting seats; we also don’t want a local who has not lived here long.
“We want a true blue local, and that is why we have named Adnan Seman, a native of Bandar Tun Razak, as our candidate for BN. He has the ability to represent the voices of the people here in Parliament,” he said.
Najib also took aim at former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for not developing an integrated public transport system in Bandar Tun Razak and the Federal Territory, despite having spent 22 years in power.
"This person was prime minister for 22 years and yet, he did not create an integrated public transport system, he only had Proton on his mind. Proton was on the brink of a collapse, and so was the public transportation system.
“And now, he has snuck into ‘parti mata lebam’ (a reference to PKR’s logo), when he could not even manage his own party, to the extent that some of their people could not become candidates on nomination day.
“If you can’t even manage small things like this, how do you expect to run a whole country,” he said.
In GE14, Adnan is set to contest against Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar of PKR and Dr Rosni Adam from Pas.
The Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat was previously held by Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, an independent who won the seat on a PKR ticket in 2013 with a 11,832-vote majority.