Upko leaders are in denial

Former Upko deputy president Wilfred Bumburing claims Upko leaders are in denial and have lost focus.

KOTA KINABALU: If Tuaran MP Wilfred Bumburing had any lingering feelings of goodwill for his former party, the United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko), it’s gone for sure now.

The joint founder of the party, who quit the Barisan Nasional component three months ago, is convinced that the wheels have come off his former political vehicle and said party leaders who portray themselves as champions of Sabah’s rights are pretending that a problem does not exist.

Responding after reading hostile comments from his former colleagues including his former boss Bernard Dompok, Bumburing said he was surprised that party leaders were in denial that the BN component had lost its purpose and direction by remaining in the governing coalition.

The former Upko deputy president said it was widely acknowledged both within and outside the party that the community and Sabahans as a whole remained marginalised despite Upko’s position in the BN for nearly 20 years.

The Tuaran MP, who now heads opposition-friendly Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS), said he felt double-crossed by party leaders who had earlier agreed with him that the party was ineffective in redressing the injustices inflicted on Sabah.

He said that to read in the newspapers that Upko was satisfied with the performance of the coalition was simply ignoring the fact that there is deep-seated unhappiness in the community.

He said Dompok, party president, was in denial over this turmoil and was guilty of shifting the attention away from the issues facing the community by allowing his colleagues to slander former party members.

“Personally, I feel sad that the issue [of leaving the party] has come to a stage of exchanging press statements between myself, Dompok and Upko,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Dompok has admitted that party leaders had discussed the justification for remaining in the BN, but at the same time denied that it had been on the verge of leaving the ruling coalition.

The Upko leader was forced to address the issue after the high-level meetings were revealed by Bumburing to defend his resignation when his former party colleagues poured scorn on his decision and questioned his motives.

Bumburing quit from his post as Tuaran BN chairman and resigned from Upko on July 29 to launch APS and declare support for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and the Pakatan Rakyat coalition which is gearing up to face BN in the coming general election.

He along with Beaufort MP Lajim Ukin announced their resignation from the BN in their respective constituencies at functions attended by Anwar. Lajim also launched his opposition-friendly Pakatan Perubahan Sabah (PPS) the same day.

The Beaufort MP had earlier resigned as a Deputy Minister in Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s federal Cabinet as well as an Umno supreme council member.

Following Bumburing’s resignation, Senator Maijol Mahap who had also resigned as Upko vice- president revealed that top Upko leaders had in fact discussed pulling the party out of the ruling coalition.

However, when Putatan MP Marcus Mojigoh, who is the party’s treasurer, denied this and said Bumburing and his group were creating stories to justify their resignation, many who knew that the party had indeed discussed the party’s future in the BN, questioned why Mojigoh was attempting to hide the truth.

Dompok has also moved to shift the focus away from the party’s weakened position in the BN by questioning the sincerity of Bumburing and Mahap joining the opposition as they had not applied to join any of Pakatan’s components – DAP, PAS or PKR – since quitting Upko.

Bumburing hinted that Dompok should already know his stand as he had already discussed it with him when they spoke about Upko’s future and is puzzled by the personalised nature of the party’s attacks.

“In our gatherings and roadshows since my resignation on Julu 29, we have never attacked Upko and least of all Dompok because we know that Upko had never been part of the root cause of the predicament of our community.

“However, to call myself and any senior leader of APS or even APS itself, liars is indeed extreme and derogatory. I therefore have no option but to clarify that what Mahap stated [about the meetings to pull Upko out of the BN] is true.”

Bumburing revealed that at one of the supreme council meetings senior Upko member Petrus Guriting first raised the issue of Upko’s position in the BN in view of the political situation in the country especially the issue of the illegal immigrants in Sabah.

The resolution taken during the meeting was based on the suggestion of Dompok. Dompok asked all members of Upko’s supreme council to submit their own opinions, stating the pros and cons on the position of the party in BN but this was not followed up.

“I met Dompok a number of times to discuss the position of Upko in BN and he understood the reasoning behind the suggestion for Upko to leave BN.

“In fact, I received suggestions from some Upko leaders asking me to postpone the July 29 events to give time for Upko to quit BN as a party,” Bumburing added.

The Tuaran MP added that it was well known within the party that a senior Upko leader had been tasked to approach all the supreme council member to get them to support a resolution for the party to quit BN.

“However, upon his return from Kuala Lumpur in the first week of August, Dompok made an announcement at his house that Upko would remain in BN.

“Thereafter during Upko supreme council meeting on Aug 24, I was made to understand that the issue relating to Upko’s position in BN was never raised,” said Bumburing who revealed that Upko which started out as Parti Demokratik Sabah (PDS), was mooted and formed in his house early one morning after the March 1994 general election.

“Dompok and I, together, we formed PDS, the predecessor of Upko. I love Upko, but when Upko deviated from its original struggle and decided to stay put in BN, it left me and the members of the group that came out of Upko with no option but to leave Upko and BN and continue the struggle for our community on another platform,” Bumburing said.

Joseph Bingkasan