"We didn’t just start working recently. We’ve done this for so long so trust BN.” - @RajaNongChik

A change of government could produce a disastrous outcome just as what Cambodia had experienced under the bloody Khmer Rouge regime, Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin said today.

The Federal Territories minister added that the political divide in Malaysia echoes the division that paved way to Khmer Rouge's ascent in the 1970s, pointing out that what followed after the group took power was the mass murder of close to three million of its own people.

"I just got back from Kampuchea, Cambodia. That country is very backwards. It was war-torn and split to factions. These signs are already showing here.

"And when one of them took power, it killed three million of its own people," he told the crowd at a 1 Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) handout event here.

Leaders from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition had, in the past, made similar warnings, saying voters could send the country to ruins if they put in power an untested government at Election 2013.

Pundits say BN will march into Election 2013 no longer as the firm favourite with the opposition now stronger, thanks to the appeal of its electoral pledges that included free education and continued subsidies on basic goods.

The promises are said to be especially popular among the youth, who now make up most of the three million newly registered voters, making this pool of voters the new kingmakers at Election 2013.

BN leaders, however, called PR's electoral pledges populist and dismissed them as unrealistic. Some said these fiscal measures would bankrupt the country.

Raja Nong Chik said the Khmer Rouge regime had also made similar promises to its people when it vied for power but all that changed once that happened.

He reiterated that Malaysian voters could also be cheated like its Cambodian counterparts if they put the opposition in Putrajaya.

"They made all these promises. But when they got power, they changed. So be careful and do not believe their promises," he said.

The federal minister said Malaysians should look at the ruling coalition's successes as proof that backing BN continuously would safeguard the country's future.

"We have led the country for 50 years. We didn't just start working recently. We've done this for so long so trust BN."
Sent by DiGi from my BlackBerry® Smartphone