Tok Mat: BN parties must band together

JOHOR BARU: Barisan Nasional is calling for a united front between its component parties to help them win in the Johor election and form a strong state government, says Barisan deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan (pic).

He noted that strong cooperation between Umno, MCA and MIC was an important element in the coalition.

“We should not be moving in separate ways such as Umno only with Umno, MCA only with MCA and MIC only with MIC.

“We want to see one big movement as Johor has various races,” he said after attending the soft launch of Barisan’s election machinery at Johor Umno’s headquarters here yesterday.

The launch was officiated by Barisan chairman and Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and attended by national and state Barisan leaders.

Mohamad said each Barisan component party has to convince voters in Johor to give a strong mandate to the coalition.

On another matter, he said Barisan would look into the possibility of working with PAS for the Johor election.

However, he said a majority of Barisan leaders and grassroots members were more comfortable with the coalition going solo.

Johor Umno information chief Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said Barisan would use social media to disseminate its campaign materials.

He added that a meeting was held with all 26 Barisan divisions’ information machinery to discuss election preparations.

He said there would be a significant increase in the number of new voters in this election, adding that this did not just include young voters aged 18 to 20 but also other new voters who had not registered before.As such, Barisan would need to ensure that all information, including campaign materials, reached the people smoothly, he added.

“We will be using all social media platforms as widely as possible, especially Facebook and TikTok which are popular among the people,” he said.