Friday 28 September 2012

SLIGHTED BY ANWAR, SAPP OUT IN THE COLD





WARLORDS......Anwar Ibrahim's 'new warlords' Lajim Ukin and Wilfred Bumburing together with their 'parties' appear set to assume Pakatan's role in Sabah.

By : LUKE RINTOD


KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) appears to have parted ways with Pakatan Rakyat after initially showing signs of building ties with the peninsula-based opposition coalition.

The fallout stems from PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim informing SAPP president Yong Teck Lee that Pakatan was now bringing in Lajim Ukin and Wilfred Bumburing as his new trusted warlords in Sabah.

That decision was made known last month in a meeting room at a hotel here when Anwar met Yong and Jeffrey Kitingan, the Sabah chapter chairman of Sarawak-based State Reform Party (STAR).

Since then, Yong has not appeared at Pakatan functions unlike in the past when he made an effort to attend nor has he sent senior members to represent the party at such events.

His latest snub of a Pakatan function was the Sept 15 gathering in Tuaran of Pakatan’s top leaders to mark the 49th anniversary of Malaysia Day.

In the past, Yong would have been loath to miss an event like that since Sept 16, 1963, date of the formation of Malaysia, has been high on SAPP’s agenda. However, he did not even send a junior party leader to the function hosted by Lajim and Bumburing in the grounds of a restaurant.

The event was staged to show Sabahans that Pakatan leaders empathised with them about how Sabah and Sarawak were equal partners with Malaya in the formation of Malaysia but had since been reduced in status equivalent to those of the peninsular states.

Yong would not have wanted to ignore this gesture as among those present with Anwar were PAS president Hadi Awang, Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim along with senior Pakatan component party leaders Tian Chua, Mohamad Sabu, Mustaffa Ali, Husam Musa and many others.

The fracturing of ties can be traced to the closed-door meeting with Anwar last month when, as soon as the brief meeting ended, Yong left with his waiting SAPP colleagues to his residence near here.

Shortly later, Yong issued a statement that his party was interested in contesting in Sepanggar, Penampang and Kota Kinabalu.

He specifically mentioned the three parliamentary seats that Pakatan component DAP is eyeing, which is regarded as a direct challenge to the coalition’s influence in the state.

Anwar’s New Warlords

DAP is the incumbent in Kota Kinabalu through Hiew King Chew, a former SAPP man himself who quit to join DAP.

According to the political grapevine, Yong and Jeffrey are irked by the inclusion of Lajim and Bumburing in the opposition equation and Anwar’s declaration that Pakatan now has five components with APS (Angkatan Perubahan Sabah) and PPS (Pakatan Perubahan Sabah) joining PKR, DAP and PAS.

APS is headed by Bumburing while PPS by Lajim. The two were in the meeting room with “guests” Yong and Jeffrey along with PKR vice-president Tian Chua and DAP MP Teresa Kok and Anwar’s aides. No one from PKR Sabah was present.

Yong and Jeffrey were accompanied by senior leaders from their parties but they were not included in the meeting with Anwar.

According to those familiar with discussions, Anwar signalled that APS and PPS would be the main players in Sabah, even duplicating some of Sabah PKR’s role and the message to Yong and Jeffrey was “we now have them, so are you coming in or not?” or more bluntly “we can do without you”.

The meeting lasted only 20 minutes, according to insiders who said that Yong was also irked by Lajim’s condescending tone after the meeting when he allegedly told the SAPP president that he could help deliver Lahad Datu constituency to SAPP.

The assumption that Yong and his party would need outside help in his own hometown was seen as a slight, according to party insiders.

Two days after the meeting with Anwar, Yong and his men turned up at the United Borneo Alliance (UBA) fourth meeting to meet Jeffrey.

Some have taken that as a signal that SAPP could be working with Jeffrey’s STAR instead to counter the Pakatan-Lajim-Bumburing tie-up.

Greed Vs Unity

UBA is a loose alliance of Borneo-based groups that Jeffrey has been trying to stitch together and its membership comprises STAR and the remnants of Usno.

Observers said both SAPP and STAR are trying to be the main opposition force in the state and wrapping themselves in the cloak of a freer and independent Sabah that they promote as the Borneo Agenda and Sabah for Sabahans.

If STAR’s slogan is “Ini kali lah” (Now is the time), SAPP’s is “Sekaranglah” (It is Now).

Even Pakatan has latched on to the popular catchphrase with Anwar shouting it out thrice at the Tuaran function during his speech.

The behind-the-scenes political tussles appear to show that while Pakatan, SAPP and STAR are united in dethroning the Umno-led BN government, their inability to temper their yearning to be the dominant party to fill the vacuum left by the outgoing party may be their undoing.

When contacted by FMT for his comment, SAPP supreme council member, lawyer Peter Marajin, said that from his observation, Yong was frustrated with Anwar.

“I think Yong is frustrated with Anwar because he now shifted his eyes to Lajim as a new ‘taiko’ for Sabah, completely forgetting his 40 [state] seats promise [to Yong and SAPP],” he said.

19 comments:

  1. Poor Yong. Been cheated for many times until his head got bald.

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    1. Yong was rejected in Batu Sapi. Looks like people do not trust him anymore! The result now proves that SAPP is no more than just a spoiler. There is absolutely no place for a third force between BN and Pakatan Rakyat!

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    2. Yong's war cry of 'Sabah for Sabahan and autonomy' did not manage to impress many of the Sabahan voters.

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    3. Yong Teck Lee should now know that he is irrelevant political dinosaur. His idea of Sabah for Sabahan and all the autonomy stuff he mentioned are noble and commendable. Nothing wrong with the message. It is the messenger who is at fault.

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    4. Yong Teck Lee as the preacher of the sermon of Sabah for Sabahan do not carry any authority anymore. He has been in political power for so long (both as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, not to mention being in BN), and yet we did not hear any of this preaching before.

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  2. Tidak perlulah SAPP bersatu dengan PR. Nampak sangat SAPP menjadi boneka oleh PR di Sabah ini.

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  3. SAPP ada agenda sendiri untuk dicapai.

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    1. dan agenda SAPP takkan tercapai kerana ia tak relevan lagi.

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  4. Pembangkang tidak mungkin boleh kerjasama, ini cuma memberi peluang yang lebih cerah kepada BN sahaja.

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    1. hingga sekarang belum ada lagi kerjasama antara pembangkang di Sabah.

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  5. SAPP akan menjadi liabiliti kepada SAPP.

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  6. Para pengundi dinasihati untuk mengundi dengan bijak dalam pilihan raya umum akan datang dengan memberi sokongan mereka kepada calon Barisan Nasional.

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    1. Pengerusi Gerakan Sabah, Datuk Gordon Leong Vui Cheung menasihati pengundi untuk mengundi BN, ini adalah penting kerana hanya BN mampu menjaga kepentingan rakyat dan masa depan mereka termasuk menyelesaikan masalah mereka.

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  7. Parti pembangkang tidak akan dapat menandingi rekod kerajaan BN yang telah melaksanakan pelbagai program transformasi untuk meningkatkan kesejahteraan rakyat.

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  8. Umno would continue to fight alongside other BN component parties to ensure victory for the BN candidates in 13th GE.

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  9. Pemimpin UmnoBN menasihati para pengundi untuk Bertindak secara bijak dan tidak mudah dipengaruhi oleh pergolakan dan kata-kata pembangkang

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  10. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today urged Malaysians to be wary of the Opposition's three main "weapons" which were condemning, instigating and making all sorts of promises in trying woo the people. "They must condemn (the government), they must knock you (government) down. After that, they must instigate (the people) and then they will promise. Like I said, they'll promise the sun, the moon, and even the galaxy," he said when opening Gerakan's 41st National Delegates Conference here. Najib, who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said the people should ponder about the sweet promises made by the Pakatan opposition coalition which in the end were actually nothing more than venomous poison for them.

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    1. Is it really something good for the people or will it lead to some catastrophic outcome for the nation. This is something the people must think about, because to become the opposition, the arsenal is three things -- condemn, instigate, promise.
      Najib said that to be a credible opposition in a parliamentary democracy, a few fundamental conditions must be fulfilled, one of which is having a common symbol."In other words, you must register as a party. But Pakatan Rakyat is not registered as a common party nor do they have a common symbol," Najib said.

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    2. The prime minister pointed out BN had been using a common symbol, with electoral candidates contesting under the BN banner."We go and face the people as BN, but the opposition will go to the people with different faces. "Symbol not the same ...we are not sure whether they will table a common manifesto ," he said, noting that squabbles over (the implementation of) hudud (Syariah laws) among the opposition pact had been conducted openly. Najib said this demonstrated that they did not have a common position and common policy on how this country was going to be administered.He also took a swipe at the opposition's failure in unveiling its 'shadow cabinet'.

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