Shafie’s wooing Yong back into BN

Selvaraja Somiah of Free Malaysia Today

| November 22, 2012

In a bid to unseat Musa Aman, Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal is allegedly brokering deals with SAPP's Yong Teck Lee.

COMMENT

Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal is allegedly masterminding the return of former Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee into the Barisan Nasional and claiming he has the tacit approval of party president Najib Tun Razak to negotiate the return.

This is despite the fact that Sabah BN components distrust Yong, who is Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president.

Yong, Shafie and Joseph Ambrose Lee were partners in crime at one time. They allegedly took over the RM30-billion timber wealth of Yayasan Sabah through a share-swap. The “swap” had allegedly taken place when Yong was chief minister and Shafie a directer in Yayasan Sabah.

Like it or not, it was Musa Aman who was then Sabah Finance Minister who rejected this share-swap deal, saving Yayasan Sabah from a pending doom.

Shafie’s intention of bringing Yong back into BN will weaken Musa’s leadership among BN followers.

It will serve Shafie well. Shafie’s jealousy of Musa is well known here. He has made innumerable attempts to pull Musa down.

He was responsible for instigating Beaufort MP Lajim Ukin to call Musa’s removal as chief minister. Shafie awarded Lajim with a RM150 million road project from his Rural and Regional Development Ministry.

Shafie also helped form KDM Malaysia to divide the Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) community. The aim was to politically weaken Deputy Chief Minister Pairin Joseph Kitingan and his party PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah), hence driving a wedge between Pairin and Musa.

Why is Shafie so jealous of Musa? Shafie dreams of being the top dog in Sabah but I think it’s a pipe dream.

Musa’s good for Sabah

Irrespective of what people say, Musa has done good by Sabah. Let’s look at history.

When Sabah attained independence in 1963, Malaysia was born.

Right from independence in 1963 to 1985, the Alliance-Barisan National ruled Sabah. After 1985, Harris Salleh was defeated, and Pairin became the chief minister.

But even at that time Sabah was ruled by BN until 1986 when PBS pulled out of BN. In 1994, BN wrested control of power from PBS when Lajim defected from PBS.

His action opened a floodgate of defections from PBS and saw the collapse of Pairin’s PBS government. Sakaran Dandai became the first Umno chief minister of Sabah in 1994.

In 2003, Musa was appointed chief minister. Immediately on assuming office, Musa faced crisis after crisis.

First, the state treasury was nearly negative; Yayasan Sabah was on the verge of going bust; state agencies were in the red; and the financial situation of the state was in shambles.

Musa prudently turn around the mess he inherited.

In 2004, Musa faced state election and captured more seats than in 1999 and became the chief minister again. He won again in 2008 with a thumping victory, winning 59 out of the 60 state seats.

Musa vs Shafie

Under Musa’s rule, Sabah has registered remarkable progress in the last 10 years.

Sabah has even earned praise from Auditor-General Ambrin Buang for demonstrating sound financial management and for maintaining its record of efficient and prudent handling of its finances over the last 12 years.

One hundred and six departments and agencies were audited last year and each showed that its financial management was at a very good level.

Even Moody International has certified the Sabah government for efficient and proper budget management for three years running and RAM has given it a triple-A rating for its finances.

Sure, Sabah has had problems, but it is progressing.

Shafie, on the other hand, has had billions at his disposal under his ministerial portfolio. He has been Semporna MP since 1995 yet his achievements paled in comparison to Musa.

He has done nothing much to improve the livelihood of the Semporna folks despite having a huge budget at his disposal.

It explains Shafie’s envy.

Meanwhile, word on the ground is that Musa is set to remain chief minister for the next five years. Word is that he will move on to become the federal Finance Minister in 2017.

And when that happens, it will be to Sabah’s loss.

Selvaraja Somiah is a geologist and freelance writer. He blogs at selvarajasomiah.wordpress.com.

John Ghani may contest and win Kuala Penyu
as published HERE Free Malaysia Today

The fast-changing political scenario in Sabah has rattled the once outwardly steady Umno-led Barisan Nasional coalition government of Musa Aman.

With the dust yet to settle from the exit of MPs Wilfred Bumburing (Tuaran) and Lajim Ukin (Beaufort) from the ruling coalition, Sabah Umno is making overtures to bring back into its fold former rebels who have switched sides.

Among them is former Kuala Penyu independent state assembly representative John Ghani.

It was bad news for Sabah’s now dominant political party when the popular Kadazandusun politician was forced to quit Umno after he contested as an independent against a BN candidate in the 2004 election and won convincingly.

Ghani showed that voters in Kuala Penyu, which together with Klias is part of the Beaufort parliamentary constituency, were not automatic Umno or BN supporters as had been assumed.

The defeated BN candidate, senior Upko leader Wences Angang, was no lightweight candidate himself. He was a deputy chief minister, and his defeat shamed Musa, Umno and the coalition who then had Lajim, one of the most influential politicians in the district, on their side.

As it now pans out, Ghani, a former senator, had shown himself to be a counter-balance to Lajim’s well-known influence in the district.

Since Lajim’s squabble with Musa and his divide-and-rule state policies, the expulsion of the former Kuala Penyu assemblyman has come back to haunt the party.

Both Ghani and Lajim have thrown their lot in with Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Rakyat coalition with the former in PKR and the Beaufort MP now leading Pakatan Perubahan Sabah (PPS), an opposition friendly political platform.

That’s bad news for Chief Minister Musa who has been busy trying to outflank potential challengers from within his party.

Ghani’s ‘powerful’ in Kuala Penyu
Early indications are that the internal manoeuvring within Umno, while strengthening Musa’s hold on power, has further weakened the party’s tenuous hold on various constituencies in Sabah and Kuala Penyu is among them.

Incumbent assemblyman John Teo of the United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) is already facing a revolt from within his own party with Anggang keen to be nominated to defend the seat.

Ghani, who was narrowly defeated in the 2008 election after again standing as an independent is now with PKR and can count on the active support of Lajim and the tacit support of Angang if the latter is not selected to defend the seat by the BN hierarchy.

As things stand, BN’s chances of retaining the seat are slim and Musa knows this. Umno insiders say the party leader is now making quiet overtures to lure Ghani back into Umno.

The ruling coalition is mindful of the shock result in 2004 when Ghani polled 5,157 votes to Angang’s 3,139 votes. Guandee Kohoi of Setia and independent Saman Ahmad lost their election deposit when they only managed to get 308 and 633 votes, respectively.

Ghani, a Kadazandusun Christian, lost the seat in the 2008 election when he polled 4,159 votes, just 257 votes less than the 4,419 votes garnered by Upko’s Teo while Guandee who contested on a PKR ticket polled 589 votes in the three-corner contest.

Guandee has since left PKR and is now secretary-general of the State Reform Party (STAR), an opposition party headed by maverick Sabah politician Jeffrey Kitingan.

With Angang doing little to hide his friendly ties with Lajim as the BN leadership sorts out its candidates, Lajim has been busy touring his constituency and other areas to drum up support for Pakatan with Ghani.

Others within Upko lobbying for the seat are Linda Antoni, Munih Epin and Lokman Sunggim but a voter in Kuala Penyu said whoever the BN picked would face a difficult fight against Ghani if he was the opposition candidate.

Ex-Sabah BN MPs in Pakatan panel

By Joseph Bingkasan of Free Malaysia Today

| October 31, 2012

          

According to a former Upko senator, current party leaders were 'trapped' by PM Najib Tun Razak's announcement of an RCI which is unlikely to convene before the polls.

 

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah MPs Wilfred Bumburing and Lajim Ukin – the respective leaders of new opposition groupings Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) and Pakatan Pertubuhan Angkatan Sabah (PPS) – are now members of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) national council.

APS is led by Tuaran MP and former-deputy president of United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) Bumburing while PPS is headed by Beaufort MP Lajim who is a former Umno supreme council member.

Both the MPs had on July 29 quit all posts that came with their positions as BN coalition members and pledged support to former prime deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim who now leads Pakatan.

However, both Bumburing and Lajim have yet to join any of the opposition coalition component parties.

Bumburing’s former boss in Upko, Bernard Dompok, was quick to paint the two former senior BN leaders ‘partyless’ status as indecisive, saying that they displayed the lack of confidence in Pakatan’s political struggle.

Dompok, the Plantations Industries and Commodities Minister, who is fighting his own battle to remain relevant in the ruling coalition, also questioned the need for Bumburing and Lajim to establish APS and PPS as their political platforms.

Dompok likened the Anwar-led opposition “as a duck in the water where on the surface the bird looked calm but underwater it was paddling hard.”

However, APS deputy president Maijol Mahap, an Upko vice-president until he resigned in August this year to team up with Bumburing, has hit back at Dompok.

“It is not for anyone to say whether or not Bumburing has any confidence in any of the political parties that make up Pakatan Rakyat. (Joining a political party) is not his priority,” said the former senator who lost his position after he quit the BN.

Upko has already given the senator post to its deputy secretary-general Lucas Umbol whose nomination was unanimously passed by the Sabah Legislative Assembly last week.

‘Pakatan made up of equal partners’

Mahap disclosed that after going through a series of discussions with several Pakatan party leaders including Anwar, it was agreed that Bumburing and Lajim through APS and PPS, assist the opposition coalition in their quest to topple the BN government and wrest control of Putrajaya.

“In relation to this understanding, leaders from APS and PPS have been appointed as members of Pakatan National Council,” he said.

“Unlike BN where Umno is the dominant force and all the other parties have to follow the dictates of Umno, Pakata) is made of equal partners where no single party dominates the other members of the coalition,” he said.

The former senator also backed Bumburing’s stunning revelation that Upko leaders had discussed pulling the party out of the BN and joining Pakatan.

“In fact before July 29, there were suggestion coming from several Upko leaders wanting Bumburing and his group to postpone their intended date to quit BN-Upko.”

According to Mahap, the leaders eventually agreed to let Bumburing go first while Upko leaders sort out some technicalities.

“However all these notions suddenly changed when Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak promised to announce the formation of RCI,” he added.

Mahap pointed out that currently Upko leaders are in a quandry and find themselves “trapped” by the announcement as until today the members of the RCI have yet to sit while “the terms of reference unveiled is nothing but a tool to try to appease the people”.

Upko leaders, he said, are aware that Sabah’s broken immigration system has posed a huge problem for the state and the country with no solution in sight and questions are now being asked about how tough or tender the federal administration will be towards the million or so immigrants already in the state.

“What will Upko do or say should the RCI fail to complete its reports during the stipulated time given to it and/or in the midst of it Najib dissolves Parliament and calls for elections?

“Perhaps the RCI might not even be able to sit for their first meeting before the general election is called,” he said, adding that Upko leaders would find it tough to go down and convince locals to defend the failure of the Umno-BN government in solving the problem.