UMNO Needs Fresh Approach To Recapture Lost Seats, Win GE16 - Wan Rosdy

KEPALA BATAS, July 6 (Bernama) -- UMNO needs a fresh approach in its efforts to win back seats it lost, including the Kepala Batas parliamentary seat in the state, said its vice-president Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail.

He said the current political landscape was highly dynamic, especially with the implementation of Undi 18, and UMNO could no longer afford to remain bound by conventional thinking.

“We are currently studying what needs to be done before facing the next election. (In Pahang), for instance, we have started to aggressively reach out to young people, including students and Pahang-born individuals living outside the state.

“If we use the same approach, we will get the same results. We will maintain our performance, but we must also adopt new approaches to boost public confidence in the current government,” he told reporters  after officiating the Kepala Batas UMNO Division Delegates Meeting here today.

Also present was Kepala Batas UMNO Division chief Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, who is also the Bertam assemblyman.

Wan Rosdy, meanwhile, urged Kepala Batas UMNO members to formulate a plan and strategy to recapture the parliamentary seat previously held by the late fifth Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi from 1978 to 2013.

In the 15th General Election (GE15), Reezal Merican lost the Kepala Batas parliamentary seat to Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Dr Siti Mastura Muhammad by a majority of 2,867 votes.

In response to PN’s statement that it had devised a strategy to capture Pahang in the 16th General Election (GE16), Wan Rosdy said the opposition was merely playing on sentiment and perception to appear capable in the eyes of the people.

“They (the opposition) do not know the actual situation in Pahang. We are currently working hard to reclaim the seats won by PN,” he said.

Yesterday Bersatu Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah said PN had mapped out a strategy to defend its seats and was aiming to wrest control of Pahang in the next general election.

--BERNAMA