KURUP LEAVES HIS FATE TO BN

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) said it is up to the Barisan Nasional (BN) top leadership to decide whether the party should be allowed to defend the Pensiangan parliamentary seat through him in the coming polls.

Its President, Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, said this when commenting on the exchange of words by Umno and PBRS at division level through the media lately regarding the parliamentary seat held by him, albeit due to a court verdict.

Kurup, when contacted, said both parties have made their points.

"So, it should be left as it is and let the top leadership decide," he said.

The issue propped up when Pensiangan Umno youth assistant secretary, Khairil Abdullah demanded that the parliamentary seat be given to Umno to contest in the 13th General Election.

He claimed that Umno had a larger circle of support in the interior.

This did not go down well with PBRS especially its Sook youth chief, Kahirin Bador, who said that it is not right for Umno to "grab" either one of PBRS seats - the Pensiangan parliamentary seat and Sook State seat.

In the 2008 election, the court ruled in favour of Kurup, who is now the Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister, when his rival claimed that he was prevented from filing his nomination papers on time.

Kurup also faced an angry mob at the nomination centre that day in 2008.

Kahirin said PBRS has 26,630 members in Pensiangan with 13,850 in Sook and 9,780 in Nabawan.

Pensiangan Umno deputy chief, Ahuar Rasam, added fuel to fire with his statement that anyone had the right to apply to contest in Pensiangan, including Umno, but that it is up to the BN leadership.

Kahirin, on the other hand, said BN would lose thousand of members if PBRS loses even one its two seats to Umno.

He also said Umno would surely lose in view of the outstanding issues like illegal immigrants becoming citizens, among others.

Opposition, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), chipped in, saying it is about time PBRS reconsidered its position in BN.

Its Nabawan youth chief, Kerry Raphael, said it seemed funny that out of the 60 State seats and 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah, PBRS was only allocated one state seat and one parliamentary seat.

Umno, on the other hand, he said, grabbed most of the seats with 32 State seats and 11 parliamentary seats.

He said Umno made the situation worse with its Pensiangan youth attempting to wrest the Pensiangan parliamentary seat held by Kurup.

He also took a swipe at Kahiril for disrespecting Kurup.

"Honestly, a small party like PBRS is no longer respected by its component friends when a youth division dares to make an open proposal to demand for the seat allocated to PBRS," he said.

Nevertheless, Tony Talasoi, committee member of Pensiangan Umno youth, said Kahiril never used the word "merampas" (seize) when proposing Umno contest the Pensiangan seat in the next election.

He explained that Kahiril merely used the word "ask". (DE)