The Malaysian Council of Former Elected Representatives (Mubarak) is confident that Barisan Nasional (BN) can defend Perak in the 13th general election (GE13).

The chairman of the Perak chapter of Mubarak, Datuk Saharuddin Abdul Jabar, said that as former elected representatives, they knew about the political situation and public support in their respective areas.

"We are former elected representatives in the respective areas and we live in the area. We know who are the opponents and who are our supporters," he said at the opening of the 11th General Meeting of the Perak Mubarak, here today.

The meeting was opened by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

Also present were Mubarak president Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman and Mubarak information chief Datuk Abdul Rahman Sulaiman, who is also the Chairman of the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama).

Saharuddin said the BN defeat in Perak in the 2008 general election was due to the wind of change that hit the national politics.

He said Mubarak would continue to assist the BN to win in the next general election and the council had been active in drawing up programmes for the respective zones and divisions to help the elected representatives in these areas.

Meanwhile, Zambry said that although they were no longer the elected representatives, the Mubarak members had a certain influence in their rspective areas.

"What is most important is that they wish to continue to contribute to the party and I believe that their efforts can help the BN in the coming general election.

"Although people see it as a small contribution, now we can't compare whether the contribution is big or small because everyone of us must cooperate to ensure that we succeed in the coming poll," he said.