Dompok won’t be allowed to fade away

 

March 5, 2014

UPKO to reward departing president with honorary title as party prepares for future without Dompok in charge - Borneo Insider

PENAMPANG: United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Oragnisation (Upko) is planning to appoint Bernard Dompok as the party’s Honorary President when he step down as president on March 21.
Deputy president Wilfred Madius Tangau, who will assumed the post of acting president on the same day, said he has made the proposal to the party’s supreme council as this will be the right to do for a leader who had served Upko well.
Speaking to the press after Dompok’s announcement that he was stepping down as president here today, Tangau pointed out that the departing president is only stepping down from his party leadership position.
“To me, he still be our top leader. Already, there are very sensible proposals, that the Supreme Council invoke Article 63 (i) and (ii) of our party constitution, and make him Upko Honorary President.”
“I for one will personally make the proposal when the Supreme Council next meets. It is only right to do so,” Tangau said. He explained Artilce 63(i) and (ii) of that the party provides for the appointment of an honorary president.
“Words cannot express how sad we all are that he is stepping down. I believe the majority of Upko leaders, what more the members, will find it tough to digest, if they can understand or believe it at all. Such reaction speaks volume about him as a person, but even more as Upko leader. “
“I also know that despite all his great achievements, he will continue to conquer new heights. His vision and work rate is second to none. And Upko will be with him all the way,” Tangau said.
Tangau said that as acting president he would continue Upko’s tradition of speaking up for the people of Sabah and he would work even harder than before, “to stay true north”.
“I never dreamt to be in this position. But if am given the responsibility, I will draw strength from the support of all the members. And especially the proven guiding hands of Dompok,” he said.
Dompok has meanwhile urged party members to rally behind Tangau, calling him the right person to lead the party into the future.
He said members must show the Tuaran MP the same support he enjoyed as he had all the ingredients required “to continue the work all of us have done together over the 20 years”.
The party’s founder diplomatically manoeuvred around questions about senior party leader, Ewon Ebin, who was not at the press conference at his Nabalu Puru Lodge near here that attended by party supreme council members.
Asked why Ebin was absent, Dompok said he understood that the former was busy with his ministerial duties in Kuala Lumpur.
But questions remain over how those who supported the Ranau MP in a bitter tussle for the party’s deputy president post last year will adjust to the new hierarchy in the party.
Tangau won the election by a razor thin margin and Ebin now has no position in the party though he is a Federal Minister.
Dompok said he saw positives in the party election last year as it was the first time was hotly-contested and showed that there was keen debate and diverging views which was healthy for the party.
The event, he said, could be viewed as a new learning curve for the party for a vigorous and healthy culture in party elections.
“The winner in any party election must be the party itself. I thank all party leaders for the maturity shown in the aftermath of the election. We have passed the test, Dompok said.
The departing UPKO leader also spoke of the party’s contribution to trying to find a solution to the perennial problem of illegal immigrant in Sabah which had been acknowledged by Prime Minister Najib Razak during his visit here last year.
He pointed out that Upko had highlighted the development needs of Sabah and the conspicuous imbalance between Sabah and the rest of the country in many aspects of national life, not only physical but economic, educational, and religious.
“We have to do so with courage, sometimes to the point of becoming irritants to our colleagues but these are realities of political life. There are instances when we need to be pragmatic. But at the end of the day, your compass must always be pointing true north. Otherwise you will never reach your destination,” Dompok said.
On his retirement plans, Dompok said he would remain active in the work of several non-governmental organisations as well as in Upko when necessary or appropriate. -BI

Dompok setting the stage to exit?

 

March 2, 2014

 

This articles is from Borneo Insider

His deputy Wilfred Tangau is taking on more of his boss’s responsibilities as the former federal minister takes a back seat on party matters.

Dompok

KOTA KINABALU: All eyes are on Bernard Dompok, the United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) president, ever since he started delegating duties to the party’s second-in-command, Wilfred Tangau.
Will he step down as party president? Is he planning a career change? Is he disgusted with Barisan Nasional’s increasingly divisive brand of politics? What’s his next move?
Having lost in two general elections Dompok seems to be fighting a lonely battle to keep the party relevant and in the forefront of Sabahans demands for a more equitable federation.
It’s been a long hard struggle. First he lost his Moyog state seat in 1999 when he was Sabah Chief Minister and in last year’s general election, he was unseated by PKR’s Darrel Leiking from the Penampang parliamentary seat. He was then the  Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister.
Another blow to his leadership was when his choice of Tuaran MP Wilfred Madius Tangau join the Federal Cabinet went unheeded. Instead Ranau MP Ewon Ebin was made Science, Technology and Innovation Minister.
In the party election last year, Tangau then secretary general defeated Ebin for the deputy president’s post.
With Dompok’s eminent retirement, the focus is now on Tangau and whether there will be a leadership tussle in the party.
Dompok has already shown that he favours Tangau and delegated his powers to the Tuaran MP when he sent him to attend the Barisan Nasional supreme council meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
Tangau was accompanied by secretary general Donald Mojuntin to the meeting chaired by the national coalition chairman and Prime Minister Najib Razak.
“Transition plan appears to be on the cards … he has to leave at some point because what else is there for him to do,“ said a party insider. Dompok also visited Ranau, his old parliamentary constituency.
Upko will be holding meeting later this month were Dompok is expected to delegate powers again to Tangau to take charge the party. Dompok is said to be travelling to Taiwan to attend to some personal matters.
Speculation is also rife that eventually the party leadership under Tangau will push for another federal cabinet post or even replace Ebin should the Prime Minister reshuffled his cabinet. – BI

Upko flaunts Dompok’s aide for Sepanggar

Joseph Bingkasan of Free Malaysia Today

| November 21, 2012

Umno, PBS, LDP and PBRS have staked a claim on the Sepanggar parliamentary seat but Upko says it is theirs.

 

KOTA KINABALU: The United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) is cranking up the pressure on the state Barisan Nasional leadership to contest the Sepanggar MP seat for the coalition in the coming general election.

In a less than subtle theatrics, Sepanggar Upko chief Steven Kutai offered the constituency to party president Bernard Dompok in place of their rising star Albert Bingkasan who is said to be eyeing the seat.

Dompok, who is Federal Plantation Industry and Commodities Minister, as expected, declined, saying that it was best to field a candidate from the Sepanggar Upko division and he would be defending his Penampang seat.

The byplay gave the party general convention that was held on Sunday the opportunity to unanimously adopt a motion to be presented to the state BN leadership for its leader to contest the Sepanggar seat.

Kutai, who spoke at the one-day convention, told the over 1,000 delegates that Sepanggar had been a BN stronghold with Upko having the largest number of members in the constituency, which encompasses the state seats of Inanam and Karambunai, compared to other BN components.

The two state seats make up the Sepanggar parliamentary seat. Inanam has 12 polling districts and Karambunai 11. The total number of voters, according to the latest electoral rolls, is 47,836.

Half of the polling districts are considered KDM (KadazanDusun Murut) areas.

The seat was won by BN through Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) in the 2004 and 2008 general elections but the Kadazandusun majority constituency is now in opposition hands after SAPP pulled out from BN on Sept 17, 2008.

Incumbent MP Eric Majimbun is deputy president of the party. He polled 16,884 votes against PKR’s Mohd Ibrahim Abdullah 5,423 while Edward Ewol Mujie of DAP obtained 3,709 votes.

Though Kutai, as party chief in Sepanggar, should be the candidate by convention, he has said he would not be standing in the coming election and is proposing his deputy Bingkasan as the nominee for the post.

Everyone wants Sepanggar

Bingkasan, 48, who initially studied for the priesthood and worked for a few years in the media industry, is one of Dompok’s senior aides in Parliament and in the ministry. He is married to Nelly Henry James and they have four children.

Addressing the delegates at its closing, the would-be freshman MP said the resolution adopted for Upko to contest Sepanggar was in line with the resolution by Upko 13th triennial delegates conference last year.

Dompok brushed aside murmurs that the party was not following BN protocol by overtly grasping for seats.

“It is not wrong to request because we are in a democracy. Requests are the norm when it is election time and there are times when even seats which are held by a component party will also be requested by another party.

“For instance, Upko seats that we have in our pocket are being requested for. But it is up to the BN central leadership to decide which party should get the seats, not only in Sepanggar but also in the other constituencies,” he said.

The other BN component parties to have laid claim to the constituency are Umno, PBS, LDP and PBRS.

Can you expect thieves to arrest themselves?’

 

By Joseph Bingkasan of Free Malaysia Today

| November 21, 2012

A Sabah-based activist has accused Upko of pussyfooting around the illegal immigrant issue.

 

KOTA KINABALU: The author of a book ‘Lest We Forget’ that chronicled the ‘acquisition’ of Sabah by Umno-linked authorities, who re-engineered the demographics of the state, is surprised that local leaders are now downplaying the facts.

Expressing his concern, Dr Chong Eng Leong said he was worried that even a hardline local Barisan Nasional coalition component was backing away from the controversial issue after years of championing it.

Chong is particularly incensed that state assembly representative Donald Mojuntin, the son of the late Peter Mojuntin who is lionised as a defender of Sabah’s rights, was now choosing to limit the fallout from a widely acknowledged illegal act.

He accused Mojuntin, from the United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) party, who was formerly a parliamentarian of manipulating for personal reasons a pivotal issue in state and national politics.

Mojuntin has also riled independents with his conciliatory stand on other sensitive Sabah-centric issues notably the date of the formation of Malaysia.

Chong said Mojuntin’s recent statement “let’s not waste time and effort to over-politicise it” when speaking about the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah, was self-serving.

“I am sure Donald (Mojuntin) and Upko know that hundreds of thousands of foreign migrants are in the Sabah electoral rolls – they decide which political party to govern us. Isn’t this problem a political issue, Donald?” asked Chong who is now with PKR and known for his stance on immigration reform.

He said the coalition partners appeared confused over their stand on the issue with Upko president Bernard Dompok once saying that internal upheavals and the strained relationship between state and federal governments had hampered efforts to resolve the problem.

Chong’s book gives a detailed insight of the audacious re-creation of Sabah’s ethnic and religious makeup of the state to tilt the balance of political power in favour of the ruling BN coalition and Umno in particular.

He pointed out that though the Umno-led coalition had been governing Sabah since 1994, repeated calls by Sabah BN members for a royal inquiry since 1996 had not been entertained until this year and even then reluctantly and with limitations.

“Isn’t this political? Donald (Mojuntin) also said the RCI has no power nor manpower to take action on its findings and recommendations as this belongs to relevant bodies like police, immigration and the NRD,” noted Chong.

Immigration, police, NRD involved

Chong said that by stating this, Mojuntin was conveniently ignoring the fact that during in the Likas election petition hearing in 1999, witnesses testified under oath that the meetings, chaired by the late Megat Junid, the deputy home minister at the time, discussed how ICs could be given to foreigners in Sabah and these meetings “involved immigration, NRD and top guns from Bukit Aman”.

“Can you expect the thieves to arrest themselves?

“My research on this issue since the late 90’s is to let us Sabahans (be) aware of this treacherous deed done by the federal government – Dompok knew the modus operandi as he had heard the testimonies from public and briefings by NRD when he was the chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity in 2006.”

He said that Dompok is now urging the public to come forward and help the RCI to set things right but asked since he himself knew the modus operandi, would Dompok come forward to testify.

“I don’t know if I am one of the 48 witnesses identified by the RCI but if not I shall come forward come Jan 14, 2013,” said Chong.

He added that since former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had admitted he did grant citizenship to foreign migrants after decades of silence when challenged,”he must be called if his name is not on the list of 48″.

“The RCI has the power to call anyone to its chamber and even interrogate, if need be,” he emphasised.

Chong said it was hard to believe that the inquiry would lead anywhere as it was the BN government that started this issuance of ICs and citizenship to foreigners for decades through falsified documents and was still doing it now in spite of the RCI in progress.

“Who is going to believe that BN wants to solve this treasonous action?

“Dompok, Donald, and all of you in Upko, if you still vote for BN – the next BN federal government will for sure continue issue MyKad and citizenship to the millions of foreigners already in Sabah now and mind you when the next electoral boundaries are redrawn you shall kiss good-bye to your so-called struggle for your people.

“And forever we Sabahans will become refugees in our own land,” he warned

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.

Dompok confirms `pulling out of BN' was discussed.

PENAMPANG: United Pasokmomogun KadazanDusun Murut Organization (UPKO) leaders had discussed the issue of leaving Barisan Nasional (BN).

According to its president, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, the issue had been discussed and deliberated by UPKO’s Supreme Council during its meeting but it was decided that the party would stay in BN.

Dompok said this when asked to comment on the claims by former UPKO leaders Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing and Datuk Maijol Mahap that the party was on the verge of quitting BN.

Speaking to reporters after officiating UPKO Penampang and Kota Kinabalu divisions joint delegates convention here yesterday, Dompok when asked to confirm the allegations said: “That is very easy? There have been people who wanted to talk about these things so we put it to the supreme council and it was deliberated.

“The majority voice was for us to go along with BN because of what BN has been doing as far as the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah and all those things.

“So I can confirm that it was discussed but the party decided not to go along these lines,” he said.

When asked if that meant the former UPKO leaders were not being accurate in their statements to the media, the Penampang member of parliament replied: “That cannot be true because there was a party meeting (and) we put it up. There was nothing for us to hide (and) I think everybody knows we had a meeting.”

Last week, former UPKO deputy president Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing and former party vice president Datuk Maijol Mahap claimed that the party had been on the verge of leaving BN.

Maijol also claimed that the exit did not happen because Prime Minister cum BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak promised to make the announcement on the setting up of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the illegal immigrant issue and extraordinary increase in Sabah population.

“For the record, initially UPKO leaders have decided and were prepared to bring UPKO out of BN and join PR. In fact immediately before the function on 29th July 2012, there were suggestions coming from several UPKO leaders requesting Bumburing and his group to postpone their intended date to quit BN-UPKO.

“They eventually agreed to let Bumburing go first while UPKO leaders sort out some technicalities. However, all these notions suddenly changed when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib promised to announce the formation of RCI which would be made on August 11, 2012,” Maijol said.

His statement was refuted by UPKO treasurer general Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh who was of the opinion that Maijol was inventing all kinds of stories to justify their action of leaving BN.

“As an UPKO leader, I never missed any discussion pertaining to party matters and I never heard nor any intention of the party to leave BN. As far as I can remember Maijol himself has never said he will leave BN.

“During one of our supreme council meetings, one of our members did suggest that the party should leave BN not because of RCI but on overall matters. That proposal was debated and was defeated and thrown out,” Marcus claimed.

Read more: HERE http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/11/05/we-discussed-leaving-bn-dompok/#ixzz2BJHWpXjT

It was true Upko wanted to pull out from the Government

‘Upko debated ditching BN’

By Joseph Bingkasan of Free Malaysia Today

|                       

Former Upko deputy president Wilfred Bumburing revealed details of secret meetings held with party president Bernard Dompok over Upko's status in BN.

 

 

KOTA KINABALU: Senior leaders of United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) met early this year to discuss pulling out from Barisan Nasional, a former top party leader said today.

Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing, the party’s former deputy president who resigned recently, disclosed that party leaders discussed the possibility of consenting to the `silent’ wishes of the party’s grassroots members for Upko to leave the ruling coalition government.

Bumburing, who resigned from Upko and as BN head for Tuaran on July 29 and now heads the opposition-friendly Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS), said he had met with Upko president Bernard Dompok at least eight times to discuss the matter.

The Tuaran MP revealed the secret meetings to clear up allegations by certain BN leaders especially those from Upko that he quit the party because he was not going to be fielded to defend his seat in the coming general elections was not true.

“There is no truth in these allegations. In fact prior to July 29, I and a few other Upko leaders officially declared our decision to leave BN,” he said.

He said Dompok, a Minister in Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s federal cabinet, was well aware of the widespread dissatisfaction in the party over its position as a prop for the Umno-led coalition government.

“On at least on three of the (eight) occasions, Bernard (Dompok) insisted I stay put in Upko and personally asked me to stand and defend the Tuaran parliamentary seat for BN,” Bumburing said in a statement posted in APS’s facebook page.

“However, by then I have already made the decision to leave Upko and BN,” he pointed out, adding that another allegation making the rounds that he quit because he lost the divisional chairman post in the election of Upko Tuaran divisional committee members was also BN slander.

He disclosed that prior to the divisional meeting in 2011, he was told by the nomination committee that he had won the chairman’s post uncontested but he rejected the nomination and asked the committee to conduct another nomination exercise.

He said he also refused to be nominated as BN candidate for Tuaran constituency.

“The whole issue of me and my colleagues in quitting BN is the failure by the BN federal government to resolve the issues of illegal immigrants and the extraordinary population increase in Sabah over the last two decades,” he said.

No respect for Sabah

But Bumburing, a former deputy chief minister, said the disagreement with the BN federal and state government went beyond that of just the issue of illegal immigrants.

Apart from faulting the BN government for ignoring native customary rights over land with thousands of natives displaced by or trapped in forest reserves that have been placed under the Forest Management Units (FMU) which were threatening their very livelihood, he said the BN government had clearly shown itself to be biased.

The failure of the state government to fairly distribute welfare aid to all deserving such assistance clearly demonstrated this, he said.

Adding to the grievances felt by Sabahans, he said, was the fact that BN leaders at federal level had little respect for the guarantees made in the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 when Sabah joined in the formation of Malaysia.

Guarantees that should have protected the rights of the natives of Sabah had almost vanished, he said, adding that while natives in the interior of Sabah were hard pressed to get birth certificates and obtain identity cards for their children, illegal immigrants were easily obtaining citizenship documents.

BN members still fighting over SAPP seats

 

By Joseph Bingkasan of Free Malaysia Today

| October 30, 2012

          

The Sepanggar parliamentary seat which BN component parties are tussling over will be an easy win as there are 3,000 registered postal voters.

 

KOTA KINABALU: Barisan Nasional coalition members are scrambling to claim constituencies won by their former colleague Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) in the last general election.

Leaders of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), United Pasok Mompogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko), Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and BN’s backbone Umno have all thrown their hats in the ring for their members to contest the MP seats of Sepanggar, Tawau and the state seats of Likas and Luyang.

SAPP, now in the opposition holds the two parliamentary seats through party deputy president Eric Majimbun (Sepanggar) and vice president Chua Soon Bui (Tawau) while Liew Teck Chan and Melanie Chia are the state assembly representatives for Likas and Luyang.

All four had won the seats on BN ticket but the party led by former chief minister Yong Teck Lee quit the coalition on Sept 7, 2008.

PBS president Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan has announced that his party has applied to BN chairman, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, to register the mixed constituency of Sepanggar seat under PBS.

Pairin is basing the party’s claim ahead of other BN coalition aspirants on the shaky premise that PBS enjoys huge support in the constituency.

SAPP proved their contention a fallacy in the Nov 9, 1999 election. The constituency was then known as Gaya. Yong defeated PBS candidate Johnny Goh Chin Lok, now the Inanam assemblyman, 15,315 votes to 11,198 votes. Third candidate Hamzah Abdullah of PAS only managed 729 votes.

However, PBS is this time also in a skirmish with Upko head Bernard Dompok, Pairin’s archival for the Kadazandusun political crown.

Dompok who is the Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister announced the party’s claim to the Sepanggar also on the basis of enjoying huge support in the constituency.

The last time Upko’s strength was tested was in the March, 1999 election where its candidate Christine Van Houten, a former civil servant, was defeated in the state constituency of Inanam. The constituency together with Karambunai is within the Sepanggar parliamentary constituency.

BN minnows, PBRS, headed by Joseph Kurup and LDP whose president Liew Vui Kiong is Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department have also established bases in Sepanggar but unlike PBS, Upko and Umno, they are not active in the area.

Easier seat for BN

Umno, the main party in the the Sabah BN coalition, can be said to have the upper hand in any tussle among coalition members to contest Sepanggar.

Its divisional head Jumat Idris, is seen as a close aide of Chief Minister Musa Aman, the Sabah BN chief. Idris is also the BN chairman for the constituency.

Incumbent Majimbun is rumoured to be all set to move into state politics by contesting in his home constituency of Inanam.

Majimbun, who is SAPP deputy president, however also disclosed that his party would nevertheless field a candidate to defend Sepanggar.

The Sepanggar MP seat is said to be one of the easier seats for the BN to wrest from the opposition irrespective of who in the BN coalition gets the nod to be the candidate.

Political pundits say the electoral balance is tipped against the opposition here given that there are about 3,000 postal votes registered in Sepanggar.

According to them, based on past election results, postal voters by and large have always proved to be ‘government supporters’.

This is more so in Sepanggar where there is a naval base as it has also been seen in the past that constituencies with a large military presence have always elected a BN candidate.

In the last general election, BN contested in all the 25 MP and 60 state seats. It was a landslide victory for the coalition who only lost the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary and Sri Tanjong state seat to DAP.

However a series of subsequent defections right up to a month ago has allowed the opposition to make further in-roads in the BN’s ‘fixed-deposit’ state.

Meanwhile, apart from the seats now held by SAPP, seat allocation for the Sabah BN members has almost been settled, according to Dompok.

Opening Upko Beaufort division delegate conference over the weekend, he said there was no more problem in seats allocation as all the component parties had been informed of the seats they will be contesting in the elections.

BN feigning unity in Sabah

By Joseph Bingkasan of Free Malaysia Today

| October 15, 2012

          

Sabah Umno, which already has a giant share of the state and parliamentary seats, is greedy and wants more.

 

KOTA KINABALU: As the countdown to the 13th general election edges towards a fixed date, the ruling coalition is showing signs of strain with bigger parties attempting to muscle in on the turf of their smaller partners.

 

Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) joined the queue lobbying to take over candidacy for the Pensiangan MP seat or one of the two state seats – Nabawan and Sook – in the parliamentary constituency.

 

The problem is, the Pensiangan MP seat is now held by federal Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Joseph Kurup who helms Barisan Nasional coalition partner Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS).

 

It is well known that there is little love lost between PBS and PBRS and now the frayed threads that hold the Umno-led ruling coalition are being exposed once again as they always are before an election.

To gain a higher profile in the state assembly, PBS headed by Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan is also laying claim to another state seat that comes under the Keningau parliamentary constituency.

 

Pairin is Keningau MP as well as Tambunan state assembly representative. The two other state seats within his parliamentary constituency, Liawan and Bingkor, are shared by Umno and PBS spin-off, the United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko).

 

Sairin Karno of Umno is the Liawan representative and Upko’s Justin Guka sits in Bingkor so based on the coalition’s power structure, Guka’s seat is the target as PBS plays second fiddle to Umno in any realignment of seat allocation in that parliamentary constituency.

 

Over in Pensiangan, the state seats of Nabawan and Sook are held by Bobby Ah Fang Suan of Upko and Ellron Angin of PBRS respectively. Here PBRS is in PBS crosshairs.

 

The problem is Kurup who won the MP seat uncontested in the 2008 election is the sole MP from the party while Angin is the only assemblyman for the party in the 60-members State Legislative Assembly.

 

PBS’s demand for the extra seats came during the annual general meetings of the PBS divisions of Pensiangan, Sook, Bingkor and Liawan recently.

 

The calls were made with the full support of Pairin, and the motions were quickly endorsed by him as logical as he said the constituencies were traditionally the stronghold of his party

since it was formed in 1985.

 

In fact PBS controlled almost all the state and parliamentary seats until Pairin’s government, then in the opposition, was toppled by the BN in 1994 when it won just 25 of the 48 state assembly seats.

 

Umno showing claws

 

The party’s elected representatives, seeing the writing on the wall, jumped ship as a matter of political survival.

 

Kurup was among them. He ditched PBS to form PBRS. Other formed new political or joined Umno.

 

PBS delegates of the Pensiangan and Sook divisions under the leadership of former MP Bernard Maraat have long memories and want the party to be given at least one of the two seats in the next election.

 

However, another shark in the form of Umno is circling.

 

The main component in the ruling coalition which already has the giant share of state and parliamentary seats in Sabah, registered its intention to make a bid to takeover the Pensiangan constituency or one of the state seats under its jurisdiction.

 

Kurup responded to the implied threat that should he be dropped, BN could expect an exodus of PBRS members out to support the opposition in the election.

 

Maraat, on the other hand announced that if the seat was given to Umno to contest, he would offer to contest as a BN-friendly independent candidate.

 

Bingkor PBS division chief Peter Jino Allion has claimed that the party is far more established in the constituency compared with other BN component parties whose weakness was demonstrated by a decline in votes in the past two elections.

 

He said the BN leadership should not underestimate the opposition in Bingkor.

 

However, he was careful to be respectful to Umno saying: “Bingkor PBS will support any BN candidate who contested and would ensure the victory of the candidate.”

 

He suggested that the BN leadership appoint party leaders in Bingkor and Liawan – who are not selected as candidates – as a senator or an appointed member of the state legislative assembly to strengthen PBS under Pairin’s leadership.

 

Cut-throat politics

 

His proposal however is all nonsense according to political pundits familiar with Sabah’s post-1994 election tactics and the cut-throat world of Sabah politics.

 

“They (party leaders) are trying to keep every one in line by promising them rewards if they don’t get to contest seats in the election.

 

“They have to keep making way for others and everyone knows an elected position is a money-spinner. They all want their share of the pie,” said one former BN supporter who requested anonymity

 

PBS, whose traditional support-base is shaky is also worried that BN’s much hyped ‘Janji Ditepati’ (Promises Fulfilled) slogan has not gone down well in Sabah.

 

Allion said as much when he asked that all projects approved by the government be implemented before the 13th general election.

 

Such is the fear that the party and the BN may not do as well in the coming election.

 

Party leaders have also called on their members to quit NGOs that have criticised the government and coalition leaders.

 

“Members of the party and BN must defend their leaders by leaving these NGOs and struggle alongside their parties,” Allion said recently.

 

With Pairin’s image tarnished since rejoining the BN and Umno (his once bitter foe) even his position as PBS president has come under attack and senior party leaders who know they lack credibility without the community’s Huguan Siou (Paramaount Chief) are running scared.

 

Meanwhile, Liawan PBS division deputy head, Zachary Kinsik, has proposed the tried and tested BN candidate quota system be scrapped altogether, a suggestion first made by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

 

He also said that the number of seats held by Umno should be reduced as recommended by former premier Mahathir Mohamed and that the distribution of seats and power sharing should be fair and transparent.

And Mr Kalakau to join PKR

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) is the choice of ex-Federal Labour Deputy Minister and Barisan Barisan Nasional ex-member of Parliament for Tuaran Datuk Kalakau Untol.

The former BN-UPKO senator and ex-Youth leader will hands over his application form to PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during a meet-the-people gathering at his (Kalakau's) house in Tuaran, about 50km from Kota Kinabalu on Sunday (Feb 28, 2010).

Following Kalakau joining the opposition party are 2,000 of his supporters, majority of them members of BN component parties. Kalakau is United Sabah Dusun Association (USDA) president.

Najib in Sabah

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will make a two-day official visit to Sabah starting Saturday.

Najib, who will be accompanied by his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, is scheduled to open three meetings of Barisan Nasional component parties in Sabah during the visit.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman told reporters here on Friday that Najib would open the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) congress at a hotel upon arrival in Kota Kinabalu.

On Sunday, he would attend the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) congress at 1Borneo, near here, have lunch with Sabah Umno leaders and open the United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) national convention at the Penampang Cultural Centre hall before returning to Kuala Lumpur. - Bernama

Ong Tee Keat enemy of the people of Sabah & Sarawak

A Government member of Parliament from Sabah has branded the Federal Government, MCA president and Transport Minister Datuk Ong Tee Keat as the enemy of the poor people in Sabah and Sarawak for imposing a policy to have cars aged more than 15 years go for mandatory roadworthiness inspection from next year. Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh, UPKO Putatan MP, described the new policy as ridiculous and annoying as well as burdening especially to the people of Sabah and Sarawak. He said it should not be imposed in the two States as yet. He said owners of such cars were mostly poor in the rural areas where there is no Puspakom branch. "This minister is a rich man, Please ask him to replace our cars. He is becoming the enemy of the poor people. The poor people are not happy as the policy will render them losing their only mode of transportation," Mojigoh told Daily Express' journalist Chris Maskilone in Kota Kinabalu Sunday.

UPKO and Perak

Sabah-based political party, UPKO, on Saturday established four divisions in Perak. Although the party headed by Tan Sri Bernard Dompok has every right to spread its wing to any State in Malaysia, some Barisan Nasional's component party members are not happy.

Umno Tanjung Malim Division, where the four UPKO new divisions are located, is not happy as they claimed that the Sabah party came in from the `back door'. UPKO did not consult nor `knocked at the door' before coming in.

It will be interesting to know/hear what other BN leaders has to say about this latest development in politics.

Orang Asli in Perak joins Sabah-based UPKO

KOTA KINABALU: A Sabah-based Barisan Nasional component party launched five divisions in Perak today. The United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun and Murut Organisation (Upko) is spreading it wings to help provide a voice for the Orang Asli community there.

Upko president and Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok is expected to launch the five pro-tem divisions in Tapah, where he is attending the Perak Orang Asli Land Development Convention.

Upko supreme council member Albert Bingkasan said yesterday the Orang Asli of the Semai group had expressed their interests in joining the party for the past two years.

"The community wanted a vehicle in the country's political mainstream and it appears they are attracted to our struggles in the party, which is focused on the indigenous communities.
"Many of them being Christians and indigenous also find it hard to expand, politically, with other BN parties which have different priorities for the communities they represent," Bingkasan said.

Under Upko's Constitution, membership is open to all Malaysians who subscribe to the party's struggles, he added.

The party opened a division in Shah Alam, Selangor, two years ago where most of its members are from Sabah.

Upko, which has 44 divisions, is merging the divisions into 25 in line with the number of parliamentary seats in the state.

Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia president Adrian Lasimbang said estabishment of the branches would be a positive political development for the Orang Asli community.

"Presently in Parliament, the Orang Asli has only one representative, Senator Osman Bujang. They also do not have any political party to represent them."

Lasimbang said in Peninsular Malaysia, there were more than 100,000 Orang Asli people from 18 groups, with the majority being the Semai community. Adopted from HERE

Stateless Sabahans

The story that I am reproducing below is from HERE.

Such a story is common in Sabah. Parents are both Sabahans but they were born outside the country. Kadazans from Penampang who went to Brunei to work will testified that although they are Malaysians, their children born while they were in the sultanate are now classified as `Stateless'.

Its awkward to know that in a family of four siblings, some will have Mykads while the others are green identity card holders.

I know for a fact a friend of mine who was born in Brunei, now back in Sabah and is a `Stateless' person. Though highly qualified, this friend was unable to secured employment in the government service.

The friend of mine was to travel abroad last month but getting a passport was a problem with lots of requirements to be met, and told that meeting what the authorities wanted was not a guarantee that a passports will be issued.

All eyes will be on the new announcement by the government in easing out the problems faces by `Stateless' citizen of this country.

One applicant who is not impressed

2009/07/10

KOTA KINABALU: Alice Chui Pee, who regards herself a "stateless Sabahan", is hardly impressed with the Home Ministry's assurance to citizenship applicants that their long wait will end soon. Until she gets her citizenship, Alice remains as frustrated as she was, having waited almost all her life for it.

Born in Singapore in 1957, Alice returned with her parents to Sabah two years later.

Two of her three siblings were also born in Singapore and are now Malaysians, two with MyKad and the other a permanent resident, while she remains stateless based on the green identity card she holds for more than 30 years now.

Alice last sought help from a special committee formed by United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun and Murut Organisation (Upko), a component party of the Barisan Nasional, to look into the plight of Sabahans with citizenship problems.

Her application remains unchanged.

Speaking through her daughter Melissa Lim, Alice said the statement made by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein was one of many she had heard in the past although she was thankful that something was being done about it.

"My sister Marjorie is graduating in Johor sometime in August this year and my mother is hoping to attend the ceremony.

"She had only left Sabah once some years back after making a special application to visit my sister who was then hospitalised in Kuala Lumpur.

"She hopes to make the same application to attend the ceremony but it would be nice if she could travel using a document that states she is a citizen of Malaysia," she said.

Alice's case is one of many received by the committee called the Upko Citizenship and Security Bureau led by Moyog assemblyman and assistant Finance Minister Donald Mojuntin. -- By Roy Goh

Kadazan should get one more minister post

Sabah-based Barisan Nasional component party member, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) is not happy that Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman did not appoint a leader from the Kadazandusun and Murut community as a minister in the Sabah State Cabinet.

PBRS information chief Rayner Francis Udong said the recent cabinet reshuffle was the best opportunity for Musa, who is Sabah BN chairman, to correct the lopsided Cabinet line-up. He said the party regretted that the Chief Minister did not take the opportunity for that purpose.

Udong said the expected composition of the State Cabinet was 5-3-2, five ministers from the Muslim Bumiputera quote, three from non-Muslim Bumiputera and two for the Chinese community.

The non-Muslim Bumiputera quote is now represented by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan from Parti Bersatu Sabah and Rural Development Minister Datuk Dr Ewon Ebin from UPKO.

Continue to use English

Former Tuaran Member of Parliament Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau said the government’s policy in using English as the medium of teaching of mathematics and science must continue.
Madius, who is also UPKO secretary general Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau, said that the policy will have a long term positive impact on students especially those in rural areas.
He also said that mastering the global language will give students an added advantage to acquire more knowledge which is useful for personal development.
“Maybe in a short term, the policy is burdensome to many students who have no strong foundation in the language. But in the long term, it will have more positive affects because the latest discoveries in science and technology are mostly published in English,” he said.
Madius noted that the positive outcomes of the policy are in fact already apparent judging from the increase in the command of the language among rural students.
“Most students who sat in last year’s SPM and STPM examinations willingly opted to answer the questions in English,” he said.
He dismissed fears among Malay language activists that continuing the policy would affect students’ command of the national language.

Dompok: Leave The Herald alone

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said the Home Affairs Ministry should let the court decide instead of continuing to harass the Catholic weekly, Herald, for using the word “Allah” in its latest publication.

Stating that it was an unnecessary controversy, he said the Home Affairs Ministry should just lay the matter to rest because it is waiting for hearing in the court.

He was speaking to Sabah journalists after officiating at the presentation ceremony of the UPSR 2008 excellence award, uniform assistance and Year Six “Aku Janji” pledge at SK St Theresa, Inobong, Penampang near Kota Kinabalu Friday.

“Lately, the Ministry of Home Affairs has been harassing the Herald to such an extent that they have to go to the court and (now) waiting for hearing,” he said, adding that based on comments, including by lawyers, on the issue, the Herald should be allowed to publish as they have done before pending the outcome of the Court.

“It is not for the Ministry of Home Affairs to pre-empt the decision of the court,” said Dompok who is also the President of the United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO).

He was responding to the reports quoting Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar warning the Herald as “the show of defiance could cause conflict and anger among other races in the country”.

Syed Hamid also said that “if anything happens, then don’t put the blame on us” and that he would refer the matter to the Ministry’s legal unit.

“There’s no reason for the Home Affairs Ministry to kelam kabut (get all excited) to look at this. I think they are using very strong language (against the Herald),” said Dompok.

He added that the Herald, is just a small organisation having a circulation of just about 14,000 a week out of the Christian population of about two million and slightly more than a million Catholics in the country.

“It is only being sold in churches so I don’t see how it can confuse the people,” he said, adding that it had also complied with the requirement of the Ministry to stamp the word “Terhad” (limited) on every edition.

Dompok said the matter would have arisen during the Premiership of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad “but I think wisdom prevail”.

He said the usage of the word “Allah” should be viewed from the historical perspective since the terminology had came about when Bahasa Malaysia was used by the people even before Malaysia (existed).

He said it was the language used by the people of the Borneo territories (as the) Melayu tacit lingua franca, even though English was used in most schools but there were also some schools that were conducted in Malay at that time.

“So religion developed along the line of communications and in this particular village (Kampung Inobong) for instance I didn’t have occasion to use the terminology because sermons and proceedings in church are conducted in Kadazan and “Allah” in Kadazan is “Kinoingan”.

“I went to school in La Salle in Kota Kinabalu, when I go to church its in English so God is God,” he said.

However, Dompok said in rural areas where the predominance of Bahasa Malaysia came about, the usage of “Allah” became more pronounced, especially after the importation of Bible written in Indonesian language, which refers to God as “Allah”.

He said the terminology is widely used in Indonesia and also in Arab countries by Christians.

“So it is a universal terminology use in the Christian world when they are praying in their vernacular language. There is no reason for the Home Ministry to continue harassing the Catholic Herald,” he said.

Based on reports, Dompok said it was “as though the Herald was trampling on the toes of everybody while in fact I feel the Ministry of Home Affairs is using a sledge hammer to crack a nut in full force to silence the Herald”.

“We are living in a country that practices democracy, freedom of religion and that the first tenet of the Rukun Negara is Believe in God. People want to believe is God so I think they should be allowed to so,” he said.

Dompok also could not believed that people were even suggesting disallowing worship by other religions in Malay.

“I said how can that be? Bahasa Malaysia does not belong to the Malays alone, this is the language of all Malaysians, your and my language.

“So I feel if there is indeed objection to that then perhaps its time for us to look for a new national language so that there would not be “confusion” among Malaysians,” he said.

To a question, Dompok said he had spoken to Home Minister and brought up the issue in the Cabinet.

“In fact it was the day after the (Federal) Cabinet meeting that they gave back the Herald the license to publish in Malay,” he said.

Dompok says no Act cast in stone

"There is no Act that is cast in stone," Minister in the Prime Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said today.

He was referring to what Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman's Aman told the State Legislative Assembly on Thursday (Nov 20, 2008). Musa, who is also Sabah Finance Minister, said that Sabah could not seek a revision of the five per cent petroleum royalty because it was not provided for in the 1976 Petroleum Agreement signed between the State and Federal Governments.

Dompok, who is also UPKO president, did not agree with Musa. He said it was not impossible to amend statues and therefore not impossible to review the Sabah five per cent petroleum royalty. Although Sabah produce oil, under the 1976 agreement this State known as the Land Below the Wind is only paid five per cent royalty.

UPKO (United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun and Murut Organisation) , a component of the ruling Barisan Nasional had been vocal in its request to the Federal Government to increase the annual oil royalty to 20 per cent.

Dompok said it was up to the government of the day to decide what it wanted based from request arising from the people who wanted to see changes.

"But if out tell me that laws cannot be changed, then that cannot be true. It is not possible to amend the statues," he said. He said when the issue was recommended (by him) to the Federal Cabinet, there has been no outright decision to reject it.

"As far as I can see from the Cabinet's discussion, there had not been any definite decision. I hope the Federal Government will consider it in the future," Dompok said

UPKO Stays Put In BN

KOTA KINABALU, Nov 7 (Bernama) - Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said on Friday he was happy with the federal cabinet's decision to create a petrochemical industry in Sabah, following the objection to the construction of a gas pipeline from Kimanis to Bintulu by the people of Sabah.

In this context, factories linked to the gas and petrochemical industry would also be built, he said in a statement today.

Dompok said that after he had raised up the issue at the Cabinet meeting in Putrajaya today, a decision was reached to continue with the construction of the gas pipeline from Kimanis to Bintulu, but only the excess gas would be piped to Sarawak.

"The federal cabinet has now agreed to create a full-fledged petrochemical industry in Sabah using gas and oil from Sabah while only the excess gas would be channelled to Sarawak because the construction of the gas pipeline from Kimanis to Bintulu would be continued."

"On behalf of UPKO (United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation) and the people of Sabah, I thank the federal government for its concern," said Dompok, who is also president of UPKO.

He said the resolution would certainly diversify Sabah's economic activity and the erection of the factories for the petrochemical industry would provide a boost and catalyst to the Sabah Development Corridor.

"Finally, Sabah, one of only three oil and gas producing states in Malaysia, can now be active in the gas and oil downstream industries."

The simultaneous construction of the petrochemical factories and gas pipeline could help Sabah, which had been lagging especially in the gas and oil industry, to progress and enjoy the benefits derived from the country's development," he added.