MUKAH (Sarawak), April 6 (Bernama) -- Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin Wednesday made it very clear that only Barisan Nasional (BN) candidates will get one hundred per cent backing from Federal leaders in the April 16 Sarawak state election.
He said claims made by some non-BN candidates in the election that they had the backing of certain federal leaders were false and aimed at confusing voters.
"All the BN candidates have been endorsed by the prime minister himself. No other candidates are sponsored by us (BN)," he told reporters at Mukah airport before leaving for Kuala Lumpur.
Muhyiddin said this in commenting on claims made by Independent candidate Datuk Salleh Jafaruddin, who is a former Education Minister and cousin of Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, that he (Salleh) had received the blessings of federal leaders to take on Taib in the election.
Salleh and another candidate, Suriati Abdullah of PKR, are challenging Taib, who is also Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) president and Sarawak BN chairman, for the Balingian seat.
Muhyiddin said he believed Sarawak voters could not be easily duped by political desperados who should not even be contesting in the first place because they were doing so only for their self-interest and not to serve the people.
Although no BN candidate received a walkover when nominations closed Wednesday, Muhyiddin said the BN had no fear in facing its opponents no matter who they were.
"Nevertheless, we must not be complacent or underestimate the opponents," he said, adding that the BN would work very hard to win all 71 seats at stake.
Commenting on PKR advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's statement that the Opposition would be satisfied if it could win at least 24 seats, Muhyiddin said: "That's his assumption."
"Before this they were hoping to topple the state government. What is important to me, how many seats they (Opposition) win is immaterial because it is the voters who will determine our fate," he said, adding that what was more important was not getting a moral victory but a clear mandate.
Asked how many seats the BN expected to win this time around, Muhyidin was only willing to say that the BN would do well but was not going to reveal its strategies.
On reported lacklustre support for the BN in Chinese majority seats, he said he hoped to get a more clearer signal of a swing back to the BN as campaigning gets underway.
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