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.
Joseph Bingkasan
KAMI tetap setia dengan Barisan Nasional. Hanya melalui gabungan ini, tugas kami berbaloi. Dalam perjuangan yang penting hasilnya, bukan tempoh masa sesuatu permintaan itu. Demikian ulasan Presiden UPKO berhubung desas desus kononnya UPKO akan meninggalkan BN.
ReplyDeletesatu tindakan yang wajar. berteriak diluar BN tidak akan mendatangkan apa-apa hasil. mengharapkan menang dan menawan Putrajaya adalah satu impian PR,APS,PPS,STAR,SAPP,BEBAS buat masa ini.
DeleteUPKO akan terus bersama BN.
Delete"Ada yang berfikir, bahawa menyeberang ke tempat lawan,maka keadaan lebih baik; mereka silap" kerana dalam perjuangan yang penting adalah hasil daripada perjuangan itu. Sesesuatu perjuangan perlu masa, kesabaran dan determinasi, bukannya kerana janji-janji muluk dan retorik.
ReplyDeleteaku tidak nampak menafaat bagi mereka menyeberang ke Kg. Lawan. mereka ini sering menuntut penyelasaian masalah dengan segera dimana lambat diberikan oleh BN, jadi merajuklah mereka. Tapi, adakah PR boleh bertindak lebih cepat dari BN? I doubt it very much. changes in the way BN doing thinks is happening, so I can see the real light at the end of the tunnel now. Gives BN another term.
DeleteUmno telah menyediakan panduan terperinci perbuatan mensabotaj parti untuk digunakan jawatankuasa khas yang ditubuhkan untuk memantau dan mengambil tindakan segera terhadap mana-mana anggota parti yang mengkhianati atau mensabotaj calon Barisan Nasional
ReplyDeletepaling-paling pun pensabotaj hanya disingkir keluar.. itu pun diorang itu memang dah mau keluar.
Deletesesiapa yang mensabotaj harus disingkirkan.
DeleteSemua ketua jabatan dan gensi termasuk pegawai eksekutif disaran supaya sentiasa turun padang untuk meninjau pelaksanaan tugasan orang-orang bawahan dan berjumpa dengan pihak berkepentingan masing-masing.
ReplyDeleteBudaya turun padang ini amat baik untuk memastikan kerja dilaksanakan dengan baik.
Deletepastikan setiap projek itu dilaksanakan mengikut jadual dan dengan kualiti yang ditetapkan. jangan biarkan amalan korupsi merosakkan kualiti dan prompt delivery projects itu.
DeleteNo problem to BN win in 13th GE
ReplyDeletekena hati-hati juga sebab ramai rakyat terutama di pendalaman masih merungut sebab jalanraya buruk dan sebagainya. pembangunan dilihat tidak saksama, lebih di bandar dan siiikit di kampung. mesti diingat, PR dan kunsu-kunsunya sedang berkerja kuat memenangi hati rakyat luarbandar.
DeleteBN tetap parti kuat, bukan mudah untuk pembangkang menewaskannya.
ReplyDeleteAnwar kata Sabah akan kehilangan 6 kerusi parlimen kali ini
DeleteLet see how Bumbering achievement in coming PRU13?
ReplyDeleteas long as the majority of the people still trust Najib and Musa, Bumburing or Lajim for that matter would not do any better or could be much worst than before.
DeleteBN has do the best preparation for the coming PRu.
ReplyDeletemakes the life of the people a better life to live will do.
Deleteadding 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.
ReplyDeleteIsu kerakyatan songsang ini harus ditanggani. PATI tidak berkelayakan mendapat mykad.
lets give some room for the RCI to its job. I firmly believe that the RCI will dig to the bottom of the problems. in the end a much better SOP to safeguard our citizens rights.
DeleteIt doesn't matter anymore since UPKO is still with BN. good luck to Bumburing and friends
ReplyDeleteSabah’s United Pasokmomogun Kadazan Murut Organisation (Upko), which has been under the political spolight over its deputy president Wilfred Bumburing’s defection, will remain with the Barisan Nasional
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteParty president Bernard Dompok said that as long as the BN government under Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is tackling the long standing issue of illegal immigrants in Sabah, Najib “deserves” his support.
ReplyDelete“What we are doing in the Barisan Nasional is that the issue of the illegal immigrants (and this) is best addressed within the context of Barisan Nasional.
ReplyDelete“Look at the issue of illegal immigrants, it has existed a long time. We have brought it up with the (past) prime ministers and Najib is the only Prime Minister who has the gut to take the bull by the horns.
ReplyDelete“With the establishment of the royal commission of Inquiry (RCI), I think he deserves my support. Simple is that,”.
But Dompok also cautioned Najib that the RCI must start immediately to solve the problem so that “we can have a new dawn for Sabah.”
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteDompok, who is Plantation, Industries and Commodities Minister, was asked to comment on Bumburing’s resignation from the party.
Scores of his supporters in the party had also left Upko. Bumburing had also launched a new entity Sabah Reform Front (SRF) last week to push forward his agenda.
ReplyDeleteSRF has declared itself to be aligned with the Pakatan Rakyat.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteBumburing had cited the perennial problem of illegal immigrants as his main reason of resigning from the Upko which is a component member of the Umno-controlled BN coalition.
The alleged legalisation of illegal immigrants dates back to the 1990s and is closely linked to the era of former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. More than one million of Sabah’s population today is said to have been issued with MyKads.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThe issue is of grave concern to genuine Sabahans because the population may very soon overshoot theirs.
ReplyDeleteDompok said that the federal government must resolve the problem immediately to safeguard its integrity, failing which more people would support the opposition.
ReplyDeleteAsked whether he was happy in the Barisan Nasional, he said the party should remain with the system of ruling coalition.
ReplyDelete“Our party is a democratic party. We discussed this issue (remaining in BN) openly in a recent meeting.
ReplyDelete“The majority voice of the members is that we want to be within the system of Barisan Nasional and carry out what we want to do in Barisan Nasional.
ReplyDelete“This is the decision of members of the supreme council of the party,” Dompok said.
On the impact of Bumburing’s resignation, Dompok said that it is yet to be seen.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete“There is certainly some bearing on the party itself, but we will not face any operational problem. We are a party that has a lot of members.
“So what you have seen is only the reduction in membership.
ReplyDelete“I guess they feel they want to try doing things that we are doing now in another context in another setting together with the opposition.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete“I would like to stress of course that the issues of today that are brought up by the opposition are the same issues that we are addressing today.
“Of course there have been some issues that are yet to be settled. So really we are on the same page.
ReplyDelete“We think we can pursue the issues that we have within the context of the present system of the Barisan Nasional.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete“So there is a different method of how to solve the problem,” he said, adding that in a democracy, the people are free to choose any political party they want to be part of.
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) will not capture Putrajaya with only the support from the minority Chinese voters and international recognition from the United States, an analyst specialising in Malaysian politics said in the run-up to Malaysia’s tightest electoral race.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Prof William Case, acting head of department for Asian and International Studies at the City University of Hong Kong, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition will not fall to PR without the majority support from the Bumiputera voters even if the opposition pact wins strong support from the Chinese community.
DeleteHe added that the BN will still win the 13th general election but with a reduced majority compared to Election 2008 due to more urban middle-class Malay voters swinging towards PR.
Delete“Whatever the Chinese sentiment, at a figure of 26 per cent of the population their numbers are not big enough to defeat BN.“Unless the Chinese consolidate with a majority of Bumiputera voters it will not happen.
Delete“We must observe too the number of Chinese voters who returned to support Najib,” he told The Malaysian Insider in a recent email interview, referring to the BN coalition led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
DeleteCase feels that the US leans more towards a PR victory at the polls because of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s image as a moderate Muslim the world superpower is able to deal with.
Delete“Washington is certainly continuing its support to democracy.However, Washington is not so opposed to Najib as those who look down on Abdullah or are sceptical towards Mahathir the academic said, referring to Najib’s two predecessors, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad respectively.
DeleteAbdullah had taken over the leadership of BN from Dr Mahathir after the latter resigned as prime minister in October 2003, and led the 13-member coalition to its biggest win only to lose its customary two-thirds control of Parliament and four states in Election 2008.
DeleteIn fact, some may feel a little respect for Najib as a visionary manager in a difficult and imbalanced situation.
DeleteWhatever Washington’s views, it will only have a little impact to the votes in Malaysia,” the professor said.Case is not a foreign name in Malaysian politics and administration, having written much about the country and who is now making a study on the state of federalism .
DeleteHe has predicted that BN will still win the 13th general election but with a reduced majority compared to Election 2008.
Delete“Umno will face the risk of losing two per cent of the votes from the middle-class urban Malays; MCA will receive the biggest loss; MIC will only get a slightly better result compared to 2008,” he said.
DeleteHe said that if BN falls, Umno leaders will have very diverse views on how to deal with the situation.“Najib will accept the decision and continue to lead Umno and BN (if it still exists) as the opposition.
Delete“Other hardline Umno leaders will create a disturbance until the authorities are forced to declare an emergency,” he predicted.
DeleteAccording to Case, if PR loses in the next general election, and their leaders can convince the people their vote has been stolen through an unfair election, it was possible a major uprising could take place through street demonstrations like what happened in the Philippines in 1986 and recently in the Middle East.
Delete“However, I do not predict there will be a split in the security forces as in the Philippines where high-level generals defected to enable a democratic transition to take place.
Delete“At the most, change will be seen to be more like in Egypt, where the military allowed an opposition figure to occupy the highest executive level but maintain control on most of the government power,” he said.
DeleteThe next general election is seen to be the closest race for power, pitting the mammoth BN coalition against the fledgling PR pact.
Delete