Najib, who took over the country’s administration from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said every prime minister had the obligation to make the country better than the previous leader did.
“I still remember when I took over from Pak Lah. He said I want you to do better than I did and take this country to the next level,” Najib said, referring to Abdullah by his popular nickname.
“This is the heart of a sincere person despite handing over the post to me.
“To me, he (Abdullah) is a respected statesman because he does not care about himself but the interests of the country.”
Najib said this at the close of the Pekan Umno division meeting at the Dewan Konvensyen Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah here yesterday.
Najib said the same message would be handed to his successor when the time came because he was aware that building a nation required the support of everyone and could not be achieved within a short time.
He said a leader, who was once a prime minister for 22 years, also often emphasised the importance of supporting any new leader who would helm the government
“However, this leader himself did not observe this principle after he retired,” Najib said referring to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is now chairman of opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan.
“I still remember the message. Perhaps he forgot or deliberately forgot that he once reminded Umno members that should we retire, we must support the individual who succeeds us because when we were leaders, other people supported us. That’s how we remained leaders.
“This advice unfortunately is something he, himself, does not practise. I’m strong because behind me is the strong support of my party members,” he said.
Meanwhile, Najib who is also Pekan MP, wanted the division to regain the support of the Umno party members regarded as “black sheep” and ensure that they voted for the party in the next general election (GE14).
“There is indeed a name list in our ‘war room’ of those we have categorised as ‘black sheep’.
“However, when we checked their names, we realised they were Umno members. When we asked their reasons (for refusing to vote for Umno), they said it was because of unfulfilled promises.
“That’s why follow-ups and engagement are needed. State assemblymen, district polling centres and ‘jalinan rakyat’ (people’s network) must be addressed immediately as these are Umno members. I want to know if they really intend to betray the party,” he said.
Najib also launched Pekan Umno’s “Jihad 191” strategy to increase the number of Umno members in the division to ensure that Barisan Nasional wins with a majority of 40,000 votes in GE14.