According to The New Straits Times online, talks of Dompok stepping down as UPKO president is rife as a power transition plan appears to be on the cards.
The article said that the speculations of Dompok resigning as UPKO president was fuelled when he was absent from the Barisan Nasional supreme council meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
The New Straits Times article also said that Dompok had delegated deputy president Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau and secretary-general Datuk Donald Mojuntin to attend the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is Barisan Nasional chairman.
Dompok was also absent at Saturday night’s closed-door Sabah BN meeting which was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in Kota Kinabalu. He was represented by Tangau.
Yesterday, Dompok, a former chief minister and federal minister, was said to be on his way to Ranau to attend to personal matters, the article reported, adding that when asked if there was a transition plan in place to make way for Tangau to take over the party, Dompok had said: “I have to leave at some point because what else is there for me to do?”
Tangau, when contacted by The Borneo Post, said he had no comment.
The 64-year-old leader had hinted on retiring but was reportedly coaxed to stay on to hold things together within the party before the next general election.
Dompok no longer holds any government post after losing the Penampang parliamentary seat in the May 5 elections last year. He last held the post of Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister.
Last year, Dompok was returned unopposed as the party president, a post he had held since 1994.
Tangau won the post as the deputy president after he defeated Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Ewon Ebin.
In 1999, Dompok lost the Moyog seat in Penampang in the state elections despite holding the post as the chief minister then.
By Nancy Lai
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