PAIRIN SUFFERING MEMORY LOSS?

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) President Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan is resorting to making up stories and mogunsamang (talking nonsense) to try to retain his support among voters in Keningau and Tambunan, according to his brother, Star Sabah Chairman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.

In a statement, Saturday, Jeffrey said Pairin was also trying hard to curry more favour with his BN bosses.

He was responding to Pairin's accusation that "my own brother (Dr Jeffrey) took his friends from Yayasan Sabah with him and as a result we lost the Kadazandusun people there."

"I am shocked that my brother's memory is already failing him," said Jeffrey.

"He has already forgotten that I was dismissed from my post as Yayasan Sabah Director after the Umno/BN government wrested away power from PBS in 1994."

"And he should also know that I was about to sue the government for wrongful dismissal, but they decided to avert a trial and paid me an out-of-court settlement," he added.

"Under such circumstances, how was I to take away my friends, and where would I take them to?"

He also reminded Pairin that the reason there are no Kadazandusuns in senior positions in Yayasan Sabah today is because the State BN Government decided to radically reduce the number of employees in Yayasan Sabah in 2001 or 2002 by offering them VSS packages.

"And most of those affected were Kadazandusun officers," Jeffrey said, adding, "so how on earth did Pairin come up with the silly idea that I was the cause of them leaving Yayasan?"

Jeffrey also regretted that in a speech in Tambunan on Friday night, Pairin questioned why the people were supporting the opposition when the Government is busy giving away gifts to the people in the form of gravity water, balairaya and others.

"Is Pairin saying that after 49 years of independence, BN is only able to give gravity water and balairayas?" he asked.

"Why not give something more substantial like piped water, roads for the villages, and economic programmes to make them financially self-reliant?

"It is exactly because of this lethargy of the Government that is causing the people to look for change, and they see this opportunity in the opposition parties which have more innovative ideas."

He said what the government should be doing is kick-starting the economy of the people in the Interior and the State, instead of continuing to do the same things which have made the State the poorest in the country.

"Pairin is so proud of the formation of the RCI (Royal Commission of Inquiriy on Illegal Immigrants) and claims that PBS is still speaking up for the people's rights," he said.

"But Pairin is now spending most of his time praising the BN leadership and no longer speaking for the people.

"And the RCI is not even moving, and it is obvious it was announced to shut the people up about the urgency of solving the problem of illegal immigrants."