“I’m waiting for some sort of spark, some sort of what the Malays call ‘ilham’ (inspiration) to think what the best timing for us is, as long as we do it within the ambit of the constitution,” he said.
He said the polls must be called by June, failing which Parliament would automatically dissolve that month.
“Let’s see (whether) we can wait until June or make it earlier. We’ll see how things develop,” the Umno president said after chairing the party’s first supreme council meeting of the year at Menara Dato Onn, Putra World Trade Centre, here today.
The last possible date for GE14 is Aug 24, that is 60 days from June 24, which is the date when Parliament automatically dissolves having completed a five-year term.
Najib said Umno members at all levels were now in a full state of preparedness to face the election.
“Party operations at all levels, including by Wanita, Youth and Puteri, are running smoothly and I’m satisfied,” he said.
Najib said reports from the Umno management committee chaired by vice-president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is assuming the duties of deputy president, and from the Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings showed the party’s preparedness to be very high.
The meeting, which began at 3.10pm, was also attended by Zahid, party vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein, secretary-general Tengku Adnan Mansor, treasurer Salleh Said Keruak, Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and Puteri chief Mas Ermieyati Samsudin.
In a related development, Najib said Umno would submit its list of GE14 candidates to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for vetting purposes.
“We are committed to ensuring that our election system is a clean and fair system,” he said.
“In fact, all our departments, ministries and agencies have taken their (corruption-free) pledge. We are committed,” he said when asked whether the party would take the MACC’s Corruption-Free Pledge in conjunction with the election.
The prime minister said this in response to MACC chief commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad’s remark that the anti-graft agency was prepared to give its cooperation to any contesting parties if they wished to take the pledge.
On the redelineation of electoral boundaries, Najib said: “The EC (Election Commission) will make the final decision. If it goes to Parliament, then Parliament will decide. We will take it from there.”
“It is the same thing being done since day one. There is nothing irregular in what we are doing today,” he said.