BN Components Agree Not To Raise Issues Enshrined In Constitution - Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties have agreed that they will no longer question sensitive issues which have been enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

The Prime Minister said what was important for Umno and the BN component parties was to be united in the spirit of 1Malaysia to face future challenges in transforming the country into a high-income and developed nation by the year 2020.

"What is important to us is to look ahead that we have more challenges as a nation, and all races must unite in the spirit of 1Malaysia so that we can build a future that is more prosperous and more successful based on the New Economic Model (NEM) and the government and economic transformation plan," he told reporters after closing the Umno General Assembly 2010 at the Putra World Trade Centre, here Saturday.

Najib, who is also the BN chairman and Umno president, said this when asked on what he expected from the BN component parties with regard to the sensitive issues including the special privileges of the Malays and Bumiputera which had been enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

"They (component parties) have given their agreement that matters pertaining to the constitution should no longer be questioned by anyone at all because I have explained them in detail," he said.

When asked whether all the BN component parties have reached a consensus on this, the prime minister said: "I would imagine they should agree because this is what I have said and as Chairman of BN, this is the spirit of BN, and it is quite academic for us to question the provisions of the Constitution."

In his policy speech on Thursday, Najib, said the position of the Malays and Bumiputera as well as the interests of the other races in terms of politics, had been enshrined as a national social contract in the Federal Constitution, and everyone must now respect this noble consensus for the sake of the country's continuity and survival.

"I believe if this is the spirit (the spirit to unite), InsyaAllah (God willing), we will place a strong foundation in terms of political stability for the nation to leap to greater heights," he said.

On the opposition's continued manipulation of such issues by saying that Umno should no longer be given power because the rights of the Malays had been safeguarded in the Constitution, Najib said:

"Although safeguarded, political power must remain with the Malays to translate the spirit of the Constitution, that's why in my speech, I had said that no matter what, we must defend Putrajaya."