UMNO should be more worried about its ability to defend Putrajaya rather than win Selangor if it fails to explain the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal to the people, said Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali.

“If they fail to convince people about what had happened in regard to 1MDB, they will lose Putrajaya in the next elections,” he said at the lobby of the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Azmin was commenting on Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor’s statement that Selangor Barisan Nasional must counter the perception created by the opposition with regard to the 1MDB scandal to win back the state.

Tengku Adnan said the 1MDB issue had been resolved, and Umno must now fix the negative perception created by the opposition.

Azmin said that Ku Nan admitted that the 1MDB issue is crucial to gaining the confidence of the people for Umno and Barisan Nasional. 

“I don’t think they can convince the people. We have taken all the necessary steps including the legal challenge against the IGP and I hope that the court will give a direction so that the 1MDB scandal can be explained to the people. 

“Those are involved should also be brought to court.”

Earlier today, Azmin took Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar to court to compel him to arrest Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho linked to the 1MDB scandal.

Azmin said he believes in the maturity of the Selangor people, unlike Umno and Ku Nan, who blamed the people here. 

“I confident that the Selangor folk who can gauge what is the truth and also confident in the programmes that we have carried out since 2008. 

“The people want to defend a government that is clean with integrity and have managed the economy and finances well.”

Tengku Adnan urged all component parties in Selangor BN to cooperate with each other so that the coalition could wrest the PKR-led state.

He said BN should learn from its mistakes when it lost Selangor in the last two general elections. – August 14, 2017.