KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 (Bernama) — Federal Territories and Urban Well-being Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin has reminded Umno members to perform their duty as voters to ensure that the Barisan Nasional (BN) would continue to lead the government.

He said this was because the large membership would not guarantee the party would remain strong if members failed to support it when come to the crunch.

“For example, in my constituency (Lembah Pantai), we have 17,000 Umno members but only about 8,000 members turned up to vote in the last general election. This means about 50 per cent of Umno members in Lembah Pantai did not cast their votes.

“They are the ones who will ask for the party’s support, houses and all sort of things but when we checked, some of them did not register as voters in Lembah Pantai,” he said when opening the Kepong Umno division Wanita, Youth and Puteri delegates’ meetings here Sunday.

Raja Nong Chik, who is also Federal Territories Umno Liaison Committee deputy chairman, said the party should intensify its voter registration exercise among members to ensure that they support the party when needed.

Meanwhile, Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, in her speech, wanted the movement to change its approach in reaching for the people.

Shahrizat, who is also Women, Family and Community Development Minister, said Wanita Umno should hold more programmes involving the people and not just among themselves.

“We need to reach the people and move out of our comfort zone. We must change the way we think, how we interact and engage in politics. Only then we can lead the younger generation,” she said.

– BERNAMA