UMNO LEADERS TOLD TO SPEAK "LANGUAGE OF CYBER COMMUNITY" : NAJIB

KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 (Bernama) -- The young generation of Umno leaders must be able "to speak the language of the cyber community" and utilise technology as an essential part of political arsenal, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

The deputy prime minister said that only by doing so can the party win "in the battle of ideas and influence in the arena of politics."

Speaking at the simultaneous opening of the Wanita Umno, Umno Youth and Puteri Umno general assemblies at the Putra World Trade Centre here, the Umno deputy president said whether Umno liked it or not, the party cannot regard the new media as its enemy.

"The new generation of Umno leaders must be active participants in this important development," he said, adding that the party had taken it lightly and paid little heed to the development of the new media both in the 1999 and 2004 general elections.

"In the end we were rudely awakened in 2008 when we suddenly realised the folly of not understanding the power of the new media," he said.