Free Malaysia TodayThu, 19 Aug 2010
By Dominic Legeh
PENAMPANG: Barisan Nasional component party Upko is standing by its president Bernard Dompok, who was labelled as irresponsible by Sabah Umno.
Upko secretary-general Wilfred Madius Tangau said it was unfortunate that Sabah Umno liaison deputy chairman Salleh Said Keruak could not read the “pulse of the people” well.
He was commenting on Dompok’s remark that Umno was a hindrance to the promotion of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s 1Malaysia concept, which he said was spot on.
“The fact is, this burning question is not in the mind of Dompok alone, but is a pertinent question in the mind of the grassroots including those of BN component party leaders. We support fully what our president has courageously stated publicly,” he said in a press statement.
Tangau, who called Salleh, a former Sabah chief minister, as his “friend”, presumed that the Sabah Umno liaison deputy chief did not get the true picture of the issue.
“It is unfortunate that my friend Salleh has not correctly understood what my president was trying to say last Sunday, regarding Upko’s fears for the 1Malaysia concept,” he said.
Dompok, who spoke to the media after an Upko convention in Penampang on Sunday, said: “Najib has a good plan for the country, 1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now.”
“What I am afraid of is this, will he be allowed by his party and those NGOs surrounding his party to do the task that he feels is good for the country? That is the burning question in my head”.
On Tuesday, Salleh described the remark as irresponsible and said that Dompok should not question whether Umno understood the true meaning or spirit of the 1Malaysia concept.
‘Is that irresponsible, or simply a fact?’
But Tangau said: “As a friend, I now ask Salleh, is that an irresponsible statement? Or is that a statement of fact?”
“Isn’t it a fact that a certain NGO vehemently opposed some of the recommendations of the Economic Transformation Plan (ETP) in the form of the New Economic Model (NEM) to the extent that the work of Amirsham Aziz, the chairman of the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) has been stalled? And now the programme formulations of the NEM has been given to Pemandu under Idris Jala?” he added.
He said even elder statesman Dr Mahatir Mohamed had said that the 1Malaysia concept needed further explanation.
Tangau said that as a senior leader of his party, Salleh should ponder over these facts, cut out the emotion and begin working harmoniously with the rest of the BN team members.
On Salleh’s contention that it is “normal” for Umno leaders to publicly demand to contest the parliamentary seats of Kota Kinabalu, Putatan and Ranau as well as the state constituencies of Tanjung Kapor and Merotai, Tangau said Upko begs to differ.
“Upko thinks that such a demand is “abnormal” and smacks of arrogance. Imagine a Malay-based component party demanding to contest in the Chinese dominated opposition held parliamentary constituency of Kota Kinabalu? Isn’t that abnormal?” he asked.
He stressed that Upko was not showing displeasure because Umno made known publicly that it was interested in seats allocated to Upko as alleged by former Sabah Progressive Party member Raymond Tan who has since switched to Gerakan.
Tangau said Upko was more concerned about the dent to the BN image created by such reckless demands by Umno which had damaged the power sharing concept, a core BN principle.
”Mahathir once assured Upko in as speech that Umno will never contest more than half of the state and parliamentary constituencies in Sabah as a mark of commitment to the BN concept of formal power sharing, harmonious politics and loyalty to friends in BN. But today all those assurances are not adhered to.
“Not only (does) Umno contest more than half of (the) seats but they are asking for more,” he added.
Was there a ‘Projek IC’?
On the issue of illegal immigrants, Tangau said Upko was glad that Umno also wanted this issue resolved as stated by Salleh.
”That being the case, I humbly ask Salleh to advise the state government to begin the process by determining the future of the estimated 57,000 to 84,000 IMM13 document holders.
“For how long will the documents be renewed? Did the state government ever consent to any of the IMM13 holders to be given Permanent Resident status?” he asked.
Tangau also wanted to know if there was “any move to resolve the future of the so called UNHCR settlsments in Kg.Boronuon, Telipok, Skim Penempatan in Kinarut, Lahad Datu, Sandakan and so on?”
Could “the state government begin to explain to the people the extraordinary increase in the population of Sabah? Was there really a Projek IC as alleged by a former Umno leader from Lahad Datu by the name of M.D Mutalib?”
Upko, he said, welcomed the “millions of ringgit spent on security forces and high-tech equipment along our coastlines for the purpose of surveillance, but obviously the millions spent have not met with the desired results. Why?”
On the RM2 billion gas pipeline from Kimanis to Bintulu, Tangau said that Dompok had requested former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to scrap it, which the latter initially agreed but the Cabinet backtracked later .
Dompok nevertheless insisted that national oil company, Petronas, should use the gas to generate electricity for Sabah as well as to feed the petrochemical plant and only the leftover gas be piped to Bintulu, he said.
“Finally I have this to tell Salleh: As a friend it is unfortunate that we have to reply to each other in this manner in the media because unlike the BN supreme council meeting, the Sabah BN liaison committee has not set the meeting schedule as directed by the BN secretary general,” he said.
I don’t understand why our saudara from Sabah are wasting their time with DUMNO. Hasn’t the wave of the 2008 Tsunami reached its shores yet? Vote for Change!!! Nothing good comes from DUMNO coz BeEnd=DeEnd.
This is just the precursor to the bigger things to come from Sabah. Sabahan & Sarawakian has been duped long enough. No more of UMNO rubbish.
The closest Sabah ever got to taste real freedom was in the period 1985 to 1994 when PBS was in power.
Unfortunately after the 1994 elections, many PBS ADUNs jumped ship to the BN.
It would be interesting to uncover the reasons for the defections that enabled BN to take control.
If Sabahans want to control their destiny, they should reject UMNO, the main cause of Bankrupsi Negara.
Hello Bernard Dompok, only a dumpkoff would still support BN.
Take a long hard look in the mirror, then wash your face and take a second look. And if this is still not clear to you, just send yr brains to the laundry. Yr brains need a good wash, rinse and spin to come out clean.
The PBS frogs of 1994 were paid to jump, but the money was “Easy-Come-Easy-Go”.
The King Frog is now a “Tan See” (waiting to die), and happily retired, as though he has lost his balls to fight for his people.
There are no real warriors in the Land below the wind.
Vote for PR = Vote for Wind of Change
Ask yourselves: Are the KadazanDusuns and other natives better off now than they were 15 – 20 years ago?
Your lands are swamped by ‘pendatangs’ and other illegals over the past 1 – 2 generations. You were once masters but you are now subservient to others.
Why are your leaders so soft in their backbones? Why don’t you wake up from your slumber before things become irreversible?
Remember Ma-zu. It can happen to you.
PROJECT IC – brainchild of Beh Ha Teh. Very soon the ”pendatangs’ will outnumber Sabahans many times over. Then the whole state would have become UMNOB fortress. Sabahans cannot afford to waste any more time but to unite and reject UMNOB including your leaders who support them for their own personal interests.
If the people in Sabah and Sarawak are still sleeping, then they might as well sleep forever! You have been cheated so many times and so often, you must no choice but to wake up. in the meantime, the advice from Pas on Operation Lalang II must take heed espescially those members like Tony Phua, LGE, they did love to immobilize you all. So thread the issue carefully in this country of lies and damn lies! At the same time, those “unstaple” members, no matter how close they are to the top, drop them from the public positions; give them some sober job within the party! have less ‘sloganeering” the Malaysians public is aware of the scenario and we are not yesterday’s child! Just continue with their wayangkulit by CSL-Moohidin; stay away and wait for their next show!
QUOTE: “Upko thinks that such a demand is “abnormal” and smacks of arrogance. Imagine a Malay-based component party demanding to contest in the Chinese dominated opposition held parliamentary constituency of Kota Kinabalu? Isn’t that abnormal?” he asked.
Me thinks it is just another sign that the end is near for UMNO. Let them contest in a “penumpang”-dominated constituency, and see them performing harakiri. They must be out of their mind if they ever think they are going to win.
Sabah and Sarawak does not need UMNO. UMNO has been raping both states of its rich resources for personal gain (and we know who they are!) and chanelling funds to UMNO in the peninsula for its dirty campaigns. Sabahans and Sarawakians must wake up to the call from its peninsula brothers/sisters and reject UMNO and all its cronies in coming elections!
Yes, continue to hammer the den of thieves for it is what they are made of – to rape and pillage a land like Sabah. First they took your timber…now they take your land…and then they let the Filipinos and the Indonesians come in droves in order to protect their position.
Sabahans must reject these shameless leaders.
Bernard Dompok himself was responsible for the rise of dumbo in Sabah, after he hopped from Pairin’s PBS to join BN. Now he is acting the part of crybaby.
Sorry, side track.
20/8 STAR:”Man blocks CM’s car, but cops pull him away.” STAR reported “…Lim was having mealswith about 60 mosque officials…Special Branch officers asked him to leave early. It was believed he was advised to leave as a man was seen mumbling to himself and was starring at him (Lim). It was believed that Lim heeded the advice.’
Oh c’mon, Special Branch officers can’t protect the CM upon seeing a Single man wondering around? But these officers are able to tangkap tangkap a Group of peaceful protestors! What sense is that? Cow-sense! Sandiwara?.. so that the CM can’t mingle with the mosque officials?
Yes, Umno bad for 1M’sia, dis we all know n agree
What abt DAP? Good for Selangor?
DAP n PR shld tell us what’s going on with dis SUPPORT LETTER monkey business
Is dis a corrupt practice cooked up by msm or REAL, macam UmnoB/BN?
LKS shld not diam diam n pretend d issue is not there
Tell us more abt d warlords n big Napoleons in Selangor DAP
Warlords n big Napoleons in Selangor DAP, like RL n TCK
R they untouchables?
Now Tony Pua is being investigated by police for posting m16 bullet to himself, in the same way as Anwar who gave himself a black eye in prison, and TBH who got rid of his own life.
Next, will Altan be investigated for c4ing herself?
SAPP no longer support BN. SNAP has joined Pakatan. Rumours abound of SUPP wanting to leave BN. The MCA and Gerakan are under pressure to leave BN. Now UPKO is also not happy.
Are we seeing the final days of BN? What is going to break the Camel’s back?
Perkasa screaming again. Surprised? Of course no. Lets hear it anyway. Entertainment ma. Shiok ma.
A church in shah will be staging a play and perkasa is not happy. Perkasa knows of only two ways to show its unhappiness (which is aplenty) (1) scream; and (2) lodge police report. And the police report here says the church does not respect umnoputras’ religious sensitivities. You see this this the holy month of ramadan.
WTF!
The barisan Nasional component party Upko is complaining because umno demands to contest upko’s seats in the coming GE. upko is not against umno’s racist policies, it is only against losing its seats to umno
SSK looks bodoh, think bodoh, talk bodoh, and act bodoh … he is a real bodoh idiot … tak boelh harap.
It’s a shame indeed to see sabahan umno leaders behaving like their west malaysian masters who are only interested to gain more power and wealth. I think it’s high time now for all sabahan based component party in BN to at least review their partnership,if not leaving BN and take a serious look at PR’s offer to Sabahans when they control Putra Jaya. I would suggest.they should at least help to make the people here to reject Umno in the next poll. Frankly voting Umno/BN to power again will definitely deteriorate the pretty dangerous level of illegal immigrant in Sabah and the dubious granting of citizen to these illegals at will by the Umno controlled regime in Putra Jaya.I call upon the leaders of all these component parties to wake and save Sabah for all sabahans