Speculation is rife that Bumburing is planning to join either the DAP or PKR, or form a new Sabah-based party to lead the community in the wake of waning support for Kadazandusun leaders in Barisan Nasional component parties.
Bumburing's decision will be crucial, especially with Bingkor assemblyman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, who heads Sabah STAR, eyeing to take over the leadership role in the Opposition.
"I am in no hurry, there is still a lot of time (to decide )," said Bumburing who formed the ad hoc Angkatan Perubuhan Sabah (APS) Movement for Change, aligning itself with Pakatan Rakyat, last year.
Bumburing, who won the Tamparuli state seat on a PKR ticket but lost his bid to retain the Tuaran parliament seat to Barisan, said his decision would be guided by the voices of APS members.
"I cannot make this decision by myself. We have to have serious discussions among supporters.
"As far as APS is concerned, we are committed to PR," he said in stressing the decision made would be based on consensus.
As Bumburing keeps his political cards close to his chest, rumours are rife that he might move to DAP because the May 5 election results in Sabah showed that Opposition voters favoured national parties over local parties.
With the exception of Dr Kitingan, most candidates from Sabah STAR and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) were wiped out in the contests between Barisan and Pakatan.
The idea of Bumburing forming a new local party remains on the cards although observers feel that he should consider the national Opposition parties to reflect the current political mood in the state.
With his comrade-in-arms, former Umno supreme council member Datuk Lajim Ukin, who also formed a similar ad hoc movement for change and has since joined PKR, Bumburing might find more room within Sabah DAP to push Sabah and community issues.
Lajim is widely seen to play the role of leading the opposition's Muslim bumiputra front and tipped to take over as Sabah PKR chief following his appointment as Opposition leader in the state assembly last month.
Observers noted that with the defeat of Upko president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok in his Penampang parliamentary seat, and Huguan Siou Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, the Parti Bersatu Sabah president, likely to retire at the end of this term, all eyes will be on who will emerge as the next Kadazandusun leader.
While either Bumburing or Dr Kitingan, both in their 60s, could emerge as key leaders, others, including political upstart Penampang MP Darell Leiking, might rise to the challenge.
BY MUGUNTAN VANAR
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Bumburing May Yet Make a Bigger Fool of Anwar
Feature Article - By any rational assessment, former Upko MP Datuk Seri Wilfred Bumburing's foray into the political limelight with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should be considered a political flop. He grabbed national attention midway through 2012 when he became the centrepiece of Anwar's "Sabah strategy" in which BN MPs were supposed to line-up to defect, thus handing the state to Pakatan Rakyat at GE13.
Like Anwar's previous defection prophecies, it failed to happen. Not only did Anwar's legion of turncoats fail to materialise, but Bumburing lost his Tuaran seat at GE13 to BN. As The Choice rightly warned more than half a year before GE13, Bumburing was wrong to arrogantly presume that his constituents – who elected him as an Upko representative aligned to BN – would automatically share his sense of opportunism by wanting him to switch sides.
But two months after GE13, Bumburing is still capable of making news, this time as a mere Sabah Assemblyman wondering out loud whether Pakatan Rakyat shall get his support on a formal basis. The very fact that this political bit-player can so dominate the news agenda says much about what was wrong with Anwar's original strategy and the legacy of this flawed thinking.
In the latest instalment, Bumburing is apparently contemplating an offer to join the DAP because GE13 taught him that Sabah voters prefer national parties to local parties. This remember, from a man who formed the Angkatan Perubuhan Sabah (APS) Movement for Change when he was approached by Anwar rather than simply join an existing Pakatan Rakyat party.
It serves to remind us of two important things about PKR-DAP-PAS that might have been temporarily forgotten since GE13. Firstly, Pakatan Rakyat is not a cause that politicians believe in. Time after time we see politicians just like Bumburing viewing the alliance as only a convenient vehicle for their ambitions.
Remember, at the same time he was being courted by Anwar, former Umno supreme council member Datuk Lajim Ukin was also approached and he too refused point-blank to join an existing Pakatan party.
And what of Pakatan's celebrated deal with SAPP that died a painful death a full three months before GE13? It too foundered on greed and a lack of common ideology.
The second important reminder from the Bumburing saga is that there is no common purpose in Pakatan Rakyat, just a grab-all-you-can mentality.
In the past 36 hours, we have also witnessed PKR undoing its early efforts to steal PAS's right to contest the Kuala Besut state constituency in Terengganu on behalf of Pakatan Rakyat. It is subject to a by-election following the death of incumbent Dr A Rahman Mokhtar.
PAS feels it is entitled to contest the seat, PKR wants it and DAP has suggested boycotting it. What a total mess.
WHY BE LOYAL TO SABAH & JOIN STAR?
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