Umno, Upko continue to trade blows
Published on: Friday, August 17, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Umno and Upko continued to trade barbs with Sabah Umno Liaison Chairman Datuk Haji Hajiji Haji Noor (pic) asking Upko chief Datuk Wilfred Tangau to close all Upko divisions in the peninsula and stick to Sabah, and Upko saying Umno only cared about their political masters in Putrajaya. Hajiji said Tangau should tell PKR and DAP to stick to the peninsula (Malaya) before asking Umno to do the same. "I dare Tangau to tell that firstly to PKR and DAP, which both are Malaya-registered and Malaya-based parties," he said in response to Tangau who told Umno to stick to the peninsula.
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Hajiji, who is also Sulaman Assemblyman, said: "You tell people you dont want Malaya parties in Sabah, whilst at the same time you have two Malaya parties (PKR and DAP) with you as part of the Sabah Government."If I am Tangau, I would be very careful when talking so not to offend the PKR and DAP leaders." Upko Youth Chief Kennedy John said Hajiji should not twist Tangau's words on why Upko ran away from Umno.
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He said although the new State Government was formed by Parti Warisan Sabah with the help of Upko and two other "Malaya-based" parties, PKR and DAP it was not the same as the previous State Government. "Warisan is a Sabah-based party which is leading the State Government with its President Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal as the Chief Minister unlike before where the Chief Minister was from Umno and controlled by Putrajaya.
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"Umno has been lording over Sabah for more than 20 years and the rakyat, including Upko, feel suffocated by Umno's style of politics where their culture of imposing their will on Sabahans are well known," said Kennedy. He also said although PKR and DAP are part of the new State Government, the arrangements were different compared to BN's rule. "PKR and DAP leaders in "Malaya" let their local-born leaders here decide what is best for the State and do not interfere, unlike before when Umno was ruling, where their "Malaya" masters were calling the shots. "Local Umno leaders, in order to tighten their own positions, feared of offending their "Malaya" masters and did not dare utter a word on actions and policies which caused hardship to Sabahans, such as the GST and Tourism Tax, among many others. "Umno's excesses were also well-known and Sabahans felt suffocated that the Umno Sabah leadership was not looking after their interest but instead their political masters in Putrajaya," he said. Kennedy said the Warisan-Upko-PKR-DAP State Government has given new hopes to the people where "we will decide what is best for the people without the dominant Umno lording over the running of the State." He said Upko had before deliberated many times, even as far as a few years back, about leaving BN to get away from Umno but the Supreme Council could not come to an unanimous decision. "The chance came when the GE14 results were announced. When the Upko Supreme Council met, it was decided that the time was right to dump BN, especially Umno. He said Upko only entered into discussions with Warisan after the Supreme Council decided to quit BN. So, for Hajiji and others to insinuate that Upko left for positions and personal glory is an afterthought, he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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