‘Where’s your self-respect, LDP?’

Queville To

According to DAP, Umno which behaves like a 'big brother with impunity' has effectively maginalised its partners.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)  should show some self respect and quit the Umno-dominated Barisan Nasional coalition which has likened it to an ‘incessantly barking and whining dog’.

Urging LDP to sever its ties with Umno and follow in the footsteps of former BN ally Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), DAP publicity secretary Teresa Kok said: “Show some self-respect. Tell Umno that enough is enough and LDP is not going to take it anymore!”

Kok’s advice came in the wake of LDP’s complaints about Sabah Chief Minister and Umno Sabah chairman Musa Aman’s unilateral decision to change the Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah without consulting LDP.

“This makes plain the disregard and contempt that Umno has for fellow Barisan Nasional component parties,” said Kok who is also a senior exco of Selangor and MP for Seputeh.

She said Musa had created an unequal relationship within BN Sabah.

Kok said although Sabah BN consists of six component parties it appears to be divided into two, pointing out that both Deputy Chief Ministers are now from Parti Bersatu Sabah.

Kok noted that it was the same in Peninsula Malaysia where Umno is the overwhelmingly dominant BN component party and dictates all manners of policy in the coalition without consulting other BN component parties.

“Umno behaves like a Big Brother with impunity while other BN component parties are effectively marginalised and depend on the mercy of Umno to hold any position in the state government at all.

“The callous manner in which Sandakan Umno Youth chief Awang Kadin Tang dismissed and belittled LDP’s complaint of this matter is testimony to that fact,” she said.

Barking dog

Awang Kadin had reportedly likened LDP to a dog that makes “the most noise, incessantly barking and whining that they deserve this and that”.

LDP, which is BN’s oldest political partner here, is miffed that Musa has steadily whittled its influence in the government over the years until it no longer representated in the state cabinet.

Musa’s cabinet is now dominated by Umno, Gerakan, PBS and Upko. Both peninsular based Umno and Gerakan have nine out of the 12 state cabinet minister posts.

The fallout between LDP began after Musa moved to scrap a tourism promotion initiative launched by former chief minister Chong Kah Kiat in Kudat shortly after he (Musa) took over from Chong as chief minister.

The project concerned the erection of a Mazu (Goddess of the Sea) statue which would have been the tallest in the world.

PBS and its newly appointed deputy chief minister Dr Yee Moh Chai have also played a role in helping smother Chong’s project which remains incomplete while a ‘rival’ Mazu statue is being erected elsewhere initiated by Yee and a Chinese association.