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.
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.
Joseph Bingkasan
perebutan kerusi adalah normal.. masalah itu boleh diselesaikan tanpa menjejaskan sokongan rakyat kepada BN.. daripada pembangkang sibuk membangkitkan isu ini, kenapa tidak lihat parti sendiri?? pembangkang2 sabah ada kesefahaman? atau masih berpecah belah?
ReplyDeletePembahagian kerusi harus adil dan bijak.
Deletesibuk mengkritik perebutan kerusi parti lawan tapi pembangkang sabah sendiri tidak sedar yang mereka bakal berhadapan pertandingan tiga atau lebih penjuru..
ReplyDeletepembahagian kerusi kena dilakukan dgn adil, bincang ia dgn baik.
ReplyDeletePendekatan kempen oleh SAPP yang mengetengahkan konsep 'Sabah untuk Sabah' atau 'mengembalikan autonomi kepada Sabah', sudah lapuk dan tidak selari dengan aspirasi negara
ReplyDeleteKonsep Sabah untuk Sabah tidak sesuai. Tidak membawa apa-apa kebaikan keada rakyat Sabah. Pendekatan SAPP kurang sesuai.
DeletePerlu ada konsep 1Malaysia, jangan ikut seperti SAPP.
Deletepemikiran seperti itu sudah ketinggalan zaman, kerana ketika ini seluruh rakyat hidup dalam suasana aman sejahtera di dalam sebuah negara, Malaysia.
ReplyDeleteSebagai rakyat Malaysia, mesti bercakap sebagai seorang warganegara Malaysia, jangan terlalu bersikap kenegerian
DeleteBN akan meningkatkan gerakan jentera pilihan raya bermula sekarang, dalam usaha memastikan kerusi tersebut kekal menjadi milik BN
ReplyDeleteMasing-masing bersedia untuk berjuang. Pasti satu persaingan yang giat diantara BN dan pembangkang.
DeleteBN tetap parti kuat di Sabah. Berkemungkinan jumlah undian tidak seperti yang dijangka tetapi masih menjadi pemenang keseluruhan.
DeleteBN tetap akan menjadi pilihan rakyat Sabah.
DeleteBN melihatnya sebagai satu cabaran yang bukan mudah dan akan dihadapi dengan strategi tertentu.
ReplyDeleteSabab tetap menjadi kubu kepada BN di PRU13.
ReplyDeletePengagihan kerusi harus dibuat dengan berhati-hati untuk menjamin kemenangan.
ReplyDeleteJangan pilih wakil rakyat yang hanya mementingkan diri sendiri sahaja.
DeleteSetiap wakil rakyat yang di pilih harus menjalankan tugas mereka dengan baik.
ReplyDeleteParti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan wants the seat allocation issue among state Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties to be discussed in a round table and not openly to ensure that the matter is solved in the spirit of BN.
ReplyDeletePairin, who is Deputy Chief Minister, said the seat allocation agreed upon by all state BN component parties in the last election should be made the basis for any discussion on the matter.
Delete“Only the parliamentary and state seats held by Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) (which left the BN in September 2008) which should be discussed among the component parties,” he told reporters after opening the state-level World Water Day Conference, here today.
Delete
DeletePairin was asked to comment on the remark by Penampang UMNO division chief Datuk John Ambrose on Sunday that there was a need for the BN to relook into its seat allocation formula.
DeleteAmbrose said the BN should do away with the usual practice of re-allocating seats to component parties which had contested them in previous elections, saying that this practice would do more harm than good for the BN because the parties would still be able to recontest regardless of whether they had a winnable candidate or not.
DeletePairin said: “He is free to express his view but it is better that this issue is discussed in a round table.”
DeleteOn the intentions expressed by several BN component parties to contest the Sepanggar parliamentary seat, Pairin said: “Like other component parties, PBS is also keen to field a candidate for the seat.”
DeleteSepanggar is now held by opposition SAPP. The party left the BN in 2008, causing the BN to lose Tawau and Sepanggar parliamentary seats and two state seats, Likas and Luyang.