NAJIB Razak and Barisan Nasional are relying on party machinery, community leaders and captains of industry to shore up support for the government instead of mega-ceramah like Pakatan Harapan at GE14.

Citing Najib’s trip to Langkawi on Friday as an example, the Straits Times said the walkabout on the duty-free island is designed to enable local entrepreneurs to meet the caretaker prime minister.

The Singapore-based paper said Najib need not whip up support the same way as PH because BN already controls the mainstream media.

All Najib has to do “is fend off potential sabotage and smooth over any unhappiness by winning influential people over”, it said, especially in marginal seats.

Nawawi Ahmad won Langkawi by more than 11,000 votes in GE13 but it has now turned into a shaky seat after PH chairman and chief Najib critic Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he would contest there.

The 93-year-old former prime minister remains a popular figure on the island and Najib’s visit is to remind Langkawi folk that at the end of the day, it is BN which takes care of their needs.

Najib later visited three other constituencies in Kuala Lumpur to help the incumbents with the slimmest majorities. – May 6, 2018.