SABAH PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim’s past deeds in Sabah may soon catch up with him, with state BN leaders going around revealing that Anwar in the 1990s was their biggest stumbling block in the bid to solve the illegal immigration problem.
“It is true. He blocked our request for a royal commission of inquiry (into illegal immigration in Sabah). He was the one who rejected it.
“He cannot be trusted and it is for this reason that we cannot accept Pakatan Rakyat in Sabah, especially Anwar Ibrahim,” the BN candidate for Keningau, Joseph Pairin Kitingan, said at a rally in Penampang, close to downtown Kota Kinabalu, last night.
On the contrary, Pairin said, it was BN chief and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who made way for the ongoing RCI to be formed.
“So, we have no other choice in this election but to support Najib,” said Pairin, who is also the Huguan Siou (paramount leader) of the Kadazandusun Murut community.
Pairin, the founding president of the PBS who led his party away from the BN in 1990 and back to it in 2002. admitted that the Kadazandusun Murut community has had a chequered relationship with the BN.
“But the BN is changing and it will benefit us. The change is obvious ,if compared to when Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) was prime minister and he didn’t even know the name of the Sabah chief minister,” he said.
‘We suffered for voting opposition’
PBS, the oldest Kadazandusun Murut-based party, joined the BN in 1986, following the Sabah riots, but broke away on the eve of the 1990 state election, which it won.
It won the 1994 polls with a narrow margin, but failed to form the state government after to last minute defections of its members to Umno, a moved alleged to have been engineered by Anwar, who was then with Umno.
Pairin led his party back into the BN fold in 2002, four years after Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister.
Besides Anwar-bashing, other speakers at the ceramah also reminded the voters that the Kadazandusun Murut community has experienced how difficult life can be if they are represented by an opposition party.
“The elected representatives do not face hardship, for they receive their allowances. It is the people who suffer.
“Don’t repeat the sad episode…our Huguan Siou today sees eye-to-eye with the prime minister and can ask for anything we want,” said one speaker representing PBRS chief Joseph Kurup, who was not able to attend.
Upko’s propaganda and strategy bureau chief Jeoffrey Ekol told the voters that “chopping and changing” would undermine Kadazandusun Murut “supremacy”.
“We cannot just ‘chop and change’ as we like as we will never achieve political maturity and the supremacy of the Kadazandusun Murut if we keep changing.
“Never allow the opposition to have an impact on Kadazandusun Murut political supremacy,” Jeoffrey said.
- Anwar Ibrahim’s past deeds in Sabah catch up with him.
- Anwar in 1990s was biggest stumbling block to solve illegal immigration problem.
- “It is true. He blocked our request for an RCI. He was the one who rejected it.
- “He cannot be trusted, for this reason we cannot accept Pakatan, especially Anwar Ibrahim,” Joseph Pairin Kitingan said
- On the contrary, Pairin said, it was BN chief and Prime Minister Najib who made way for the ongoing RCI to be formed.
- “So, we have no other choice in this election but to support Najib,” said Pairin the Huguan Siou of the Kadazandusun Murut community.
- “BN is changing and it will benefit us. The change is obvious.” he said.
- PBS, the oldest Kadazandusun Murut-based party, joined the BN in 1986.
- It won 1994 polls but failed to form government after defections engineered by Anwar.
- Pairin led his party back to BN in 2002 after Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister.
- Kadazandusun Murut experienced difficult life if they are represented by opposition
- “elected representatives do not face hardship, they receive allowances. but the people suffer.
- “Don’t repeat sad episode…our Huguan Siou today sees eye-to-eye with prime minister and can ask for anything we want,” said one speaker
- “Never allow the opposition to have an impact on Kadazandusun Murut political supremacy,” Jeoffrey said.
- Najib received glowing praises throughout the event last night, attended by some 2,000 people who were mostly members of Upko, PBRS, PBS and Umno.
- Crowd was spirited, with chants of ‘Tatap BN’.
