UMNO: Rafidah is talking.

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A guard of honour member of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party yawns as she awaits the arrival of Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the UMNO General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur, 07 November 2007.

Rafidah against Razaleigh's EGM call, citing 'this is not the time'

By : Evangeline Majawat and Laviinia Dhanagunan

KUALA LUMPUR, Fri:

Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz has disagreed with the call by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah for an Umno EGM to discuss the party’s disastrous March 8 polls outing, saying that “this is not the time”.

“We have suffered some setbacks during the elections. Let us not worsen the situation by dissipating the energy,” she said. “This is a time for the leadership to galvanise the party and Umno, with the other BN component parties, must unite and work together.”

She was speaking to reporters after chairing a Wanita Umno Exco meeting, joined by her deputy Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

Rafidah said that galvanising the party was not a “one-man show” but steps are being taken to investigate and rectify what went wrong.

Shahrizat said that all the members are solidly behind Rafidah and there should not be any attempt of trying to divide the party.
“The party has lost. So what? Don’t underestimate us. We will rise again,” Shahrizat said.
Nevertheless, Rafidah, who maintains she is committed to strengthening and restoring public confidence in Wanita Umno, conceded it was also time for some soul-searching.

“Wanita Umno Exco, members and myself will go to the grassroots and strategise on how to win back voters,” she said.

“Our communication unit has already completed the first level analysis. We will conduct post-mortems on division and state levels, and compile the findings. The final report will be handed to the leaders of the party for them to take action. We will do what whatever needs doing for Wanita Umno to be effective in strengthening the party,” she said.

Rafidah said Wanita Umno will also call for a meeting with the component parties to strategise at the Wanita BN level.

BERITADARIGUNUNG - from Strait Times online and Tengku Bahar