Photo: Bernama
KUALA PILAH: The incoming prime minister will need an experienced Cabinet to assist him in steering the country back to greatness and only Barisan Nasional can provide this, says Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
The Barisan deputy chairman said it was pointless to have a capable prime minister, but who did not get good support from his team.
"Our choice of Prime Minister is Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and he will have many experienced leaders to pick from to assist him.
"We among others have several mentris besar and former Cabinet ministers who will be able to do so and help the PM make Malaysia great again," he said when met while campaigning for Barisan's candidate in Kuala Pilah Datuk Adnan Abu Hassan.
Mohamad, who will be contesting the Rembau parliamentary seat, said Malaysia once used to be the spokesman for third-world countries and whose views were respected globally.
"When Malaysia used to speak at the United Nations including on matters such as Palestine, the global community used to take note of this.
"We used to have events such as the Langkawi dialogue where many leaders would attend and hear what Malaysia had to say on important issues.
"But sadly, all this changed after 2018 (GE14) and our voice became muted internationally," he said, adding that the ministers in the new government then were inexperienced and some made ridiculous statements.
He said the country also registered impressive economic growth pre-GE14 when it was under Barisan's rule.
"At one recent time, our growth was the second most impressive in Asia.
"But after GE14, our standing dropped and during Perikatan Nasional’s rule, our growth was actually negative," he said.
Mohamad said when Ismail Sabri became premier, the economy again grew by leaps and bounds and this was due to Barisan and Umno's experience to run the country.
On Nov 11, Bank Negara in a statement said Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 14.2% year-on-year in the third quarter of the year, which was a stronger pace than what most economists predicted.
The growth in the country's third-quarter GDP beat the median forecast of 11.7% in a Reuters survey of economists and was up from 8.9% in the preceding quarter.
"People are beginning to have faith in Malaysia again and investors are coming back.
"The younger generation knows that stability and experience is the best formula to steer Malaysia back to greatness," he said.
Mohamad reiterated that for the first time, young voters voted for Barisan as seen during the Johor election.
He said the younger generation had access to lots of information and they knew who should be elected to lead the nation.
"Before the Johor state election, young voters would generally not vote for us and this was also seen during GE14 when we lost badly in some areas.
"But all this has now changed, and we are confident they will again vote Barisan in GE15," he said.
Mohamad also said Johor has received some RM60bil in new investments in seven months since the Johor state election and this was again a testament to their faith in Barisan.
The younger generation, he said, have sent a message across that they want a bright future and this could only be provided by an experienced, strong and stable government.
Mohamad expressed hope that voters would not repeat the mistake they made during GE14 by not supporting Barisan.
He said voters should also look back at the pledges made by the leaders of the incoming government then and which have remained unfulfilled.
