KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 (Bernama) -- Umno Vice-President Tan Sri Muhyiddin said Umno alone would not be able to defend Barisan Nasional (BN) and ensure the coalition remained in power without the support of other component parties.
"We have accepted the alliance concept in the BN but there must be a renewal process without sacrificing the struggle of component parties," he told a news conference today.
Earlier Muhyiddin flagged off a convoy of 20 cars under the Hijrah Merdeka expedition organised by the Federal Territory's Ex-Assemblymen Association (Mubarak).
The expedition, which will be stopping over at several higher learning institutions along the way to Melaka, is the first organised by the association as part of activities in conjunction with the 51st National Day celebrations tomorrow.
Muhyiddin said although the wishes of some BN component party leaders to leave the BN might just be a harmless banter, it indicated an unhealthy development in the BN which should be tackle urgently.
He also reiterated his views on the need for a "new" BN to retain the current support for the coalition and restore the lost ones.
"BN should be brave enough to create a new BN in the terms of having a new way of thinking and instilling new expectation so that it can continue to be relevant and in line with the aspirations of the young," he said.
On the effort by Sabah deputy Umno chief Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal to collect loyalty pledge from 58 BN members of parliament from Sabah and Sarawak, Muhyiddin said he would leave it to the wisdom of those concerned.
"They have said before that they were not a commodity which can be traded and that they have principles... I think that alone is enough for us to accept as fact.
"It's alright if they don't (sign the loyalty pledge). We have already heard their pledge," he said.
-- BERNAMA
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