UMNO members must be wise in evaluating motives of new party - Salleh

UMNO members should be wise in evaluating the struggle of the new party's leadership led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and not be influenced to join them.

UMNO treasurer Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said he believed that the leadership of the new party would certainly try to influence members of UMNO divisions and branches to gain support. "We should know their motives, they used to be with us (UMNO) and we have seen and heard their speeches when they were in our party...when they left the party, what they are saying now.

"Tun Mahathir himself became a prime minister because of UMNO and indebted to UMNO, now he is saying that UMNO should be brought down just because he did not agree with Datuk Seri Najib Razak," he told reporters after opening the Baling Wanita UMNO delegates meeting, here on Friday.

Also present were Baling UMNO division head Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim and Baling Wanita UMNO division chief Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim.

Salleh, who is also Communications and Multimedia Minister, said UMNO members should also evaluate and not blindly accept any information received, especially in social media, which aimed at influencing their thinking. He said the party's enemies would make the country's top leaders as their target by spreading unfounded slanders to undermine the people's confidence in the country's leadership.

"Slander in social media is like a modern anonymous letter and we have to be careful so that they do not destroy the unity among us," he said.

In another development, Salleh asked the public to channel any information relating to Daish militants in an effort to curb terrorism in the country.

He said the government had blocked the access to many websites and blogs which were found to contain element of terrorism but could not do overall monitoring due to today's rapid development of communication technology. "The threat from Daesh militant groups is a serious matter that should be jointly addressed," he added. In KOTA BAHARU, UMNO Supreme Council (MT) member Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said UMNO and other Barisan Nasional's component parties must always be prepared to face the challenges from the opposition party and the new party.

He said they had to be prepared not only during general elections but also during normal days. "For me, as a democratic country, we have no problem, we cannot prevent any quarters from forming a new party because it is the right of people living in a democratic country," he told reporters after a simultaneous opening of the Kubang Kerian Wanita, Youth and Puteri UMNO delegates meetings on Friday. Meanwhile, Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong said although the new party would pose a challenge, he was not worried with the development and would instead continue to focus on solving peoples' problems. Mah said this at the opening of Kelantan Gerakan Conference here. In MACHANG, another UMNO MT member Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said the new party was not a party that fight for the right and interests of the people but merely to achieve personal agenda. "History has shown that leaders who quit UMNO and formed a new party to topple the existing leadership were unlikely to be accepted by all," he told reporters after opening the Machang Wanita UMNO delegates' meeting here. In MELAKA, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron said UMNO was a party that had never been bereft of leadership, especially at the grass root level and the action of some leaders who left the party would not affect UMNO. "History has shown that Ahmad Fuad (Hassan) left UMNO and formed PAS, Tengku Razaleigh (Hamzah) formed Semangat 46, (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim formed PKR. They all formed splinter parties because they did not get want they want. "I'm sure Tun (Dr) Mahathir also had something that he didn't get that prompted him to form a new party, he is no different," he said.