Zahid promises cabinet posts to Selangor if BN wins state

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the prime minister would appoint two ministers from Selangor if Barisan Nasional returns to power in the state. He said it was important that the Selangor Barisan Nasional (BN) focus its efforts to win back the state. "Make sure that Umno BN takes over Selangor and wrest back parliamentary seats in the state. God willing, I will advise the prime minister to appoint not one, but two full ministers from Selangor," he said when officiating the Petaling Jaya Selatan Umno division meeting in Subang Jaya last night. Selangor has currently no ministers in the Cabinet. In his speech, Zahid, who is also Umno vice-president, reminded the state party leaders to actively move as the state opposition to attract support for the party and win back Selangor. "No one else can make Umno win in Selangor besides its own people. For that, Umno members have to think like the opposition, act like the opposition to win the support of the people (towards BN)," he said. At the same time, he also urged BN component parties to give their full cooperation to Umno in its efforts to wrest back the state. His plea was based on a report he had received, which said that BN component parties were reluctant to cooperate with Selangor Umno as they felt there was no way BN could take back Selangor from the opposition. "I got the report. I know. So, I don't care about component parties who do not want to work. Take those that want to. If the leader does not want to cooperate with us, we will call their members to work with us because Umno is the backbone of BN. "I will tell Datuk Donald Lim, MIC's Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam and Datuk Mah Siew Keong (Gerakan) about the report and will ensure they help us," he said, adding that his words were not a warning. Lim, Dr Subramaniam and Mah are the Selangor chiefs for the MCA, MIC and Gerakan respectively. BN lost the prized Selangor government to the opposition in 2008 and despite its massive effort at the last elections failed to wrest it back. The Pakatan Rakyat coalition was soon born after it had wrested the state. Though Pakatan no longer exists, PKR continues to lead the state with the support of DAP and PAS. – September 1, 2015.