The prime minister said although the number of Covid-19 cases had dropped and the country’s economy was also seen to be recovering, the task was not completed yet.
“I need support from the party for the strength to fight on. The biggest challenge is the issues facing the people and not the endless politicking.
“The number of cases is dropping, but it is still hovering around 4,000 daily.
“Don’t think that we are now completely free from Covid-19, and I still have a huge responsibility to deal with it ,” he said when opening the Bera Umno Wanita, Youth and Puteri delegates meeting here today.
Meanwhile, Ismail also called on Umno to return to the basics of the party’s struggle in uniting the Malay and Muslim communities to ensure the party’s victory in the next general election (GE15).
He said its defeat in the last general election should serve as a reminder to members on the importance of unity in the party.
“We formed the government today not because we won the general election but because we worked with other parties.
“We seem to have forgotten that.
“The original purpose of Umno’s establishment was to unite the Muslims and Malays, but the opposite is happening now, with several camps and rifts in the party,” he said.
He also reminded Umno members not to be arrogant over the party’s landslide victory in the recent Melaka state elections.
“We can congratulate ourselves for our victory in Melaka, but we have not yet won fully as the increase in our popular vote was only by one percent,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ismail said the Umno Youth and Puteri members should continue to reach out to the young people who will determine the party’s fate in the next GE15 when the implementation of Undi-18 and automatic voter registration takes effect on Dec 15.
“You have to engage with the young voters to get them to support our party. This should be our commitment,” he added.
Ismail, who is Bera MP, said there were some quarters attempting to prevent young people from voting by proposing that GE15 be held as soon as possible.
“If we do that, it is as if we are not confident in the ability of the young people to make the right choices. It would seem like we are preventing them from exercising their rights. If we do so, we will be punished by this group,” he added.
He also reminded all parties that while they were free to air their views, they must also respect the power bestowed on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong under the constitution to dissolve Parliament.