The de facto Umno deputy president said he had cautioned the BN machinery not to be complacent although it hoped multiple-cornered contests would give it the advantage.
“Although we look forward to contests with more than two candidates, there are certain seats we consider to be risky,” he said in his winding-up speech at the Umno general assembly at PWTC today.
Zahid reminded the delegates that BN failed twice to defeat the opposition’s offensives in the 2008 and 2013 general elections, but this should not happen again in GE14.
“These experiences show we need to build our strengths from within and not rely on outside factors. The opposition will use whatever means they have to win, as they survive on issues.
“We were caught twice by surprise last-minute attacks which succeeded in swinging voter support, particularly those in the ‘persuadable’ group,” said Zahid.
He called on Umno’s cyber troopers to prepare early to face such attacks.
“We need to sniff out early the issues and lies played by the opposition, especially on social media.
“For this, we will place our trust in our friends in the IT Bureau and social media practitioners to carry out counter-attacks against the lies and slander,” he said.
Zahid also urged Umno members to work as one team to face GE14.
“Help one another. We don’t want anyone to sulk regardless of who is picked as the candidate. Be a good follower,” he added.