Sabahans paid a heavy price
Published on: Sunday, November 23, 2014
KENINGAU: Former PBS Bingkor Assemblyman Thomas Angan said Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan will still be Chief Minister today and PBS ruling the State for a long time to come had he not "double-crossed" former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir twice.Angan, who eventually fell out of favour with PBS, also claimed that Sabahans paid a heavy price for Pairin's political blunders.He claimed the first was after the 1985 polls when Pairin allegedly agreed to form a coalition government with Usno but changed his mind and the second when Parti Bersatu Sabah pulled out of the ruling BN coalition on the eve of the 1990 general elections.
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"He (Pairin) changed his mind after leaving Kuala Lumpur and said PBS can go on its own to form a State Government," said Angan of the 1986 polls outcome.He said at that time, late Datuk Mark Koding flew to Kuala Lumpur to report to Dr Mahathir that Pairin did not wish to honour what had been agreed at the nation's capital, i.e, to form a coalition government with Usno.Angan said late Usno President Tun Mustapha Harun had a discussion with Berjaya President Datuk (now Tan Sri) Harris Salleh and later at midnight entered the Istana Negeri to meet with then Head of State Tun Adnan Robert to take the oath of Chief Minister.However, Mustapha was not successful because the six YBs he was banking on to secure the required number were Nominated Assemblymen which only the victorious party was entitled to.
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"Then Pairin the next morning took the oath to form a PBS State Government. If only Pairin had been considerate and formed a coalition with Usno, then Pairin would still be the Chief Minister today and peninsula-based parties like Umno, MCA, MIC and Gerakan would definitely not have come to Sabah," he said. Angan said what happened after that was illegal immigrants receiving birth certificates and then identity cards, adding the children of these illegal immigrants were able to get education and later employment apart from getting business contracts or licences just like the locals.
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Angan said on Oct 15, 1990, PBS pulled out from the Barisan Nasional and became an opposition party in Sabah and formed a pact with peninsula-based Semangat 46 led by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and DAP but failed. In the general elections after that, then PBS leaders like Datuk Yong Teck Lee, Tan Sri Joseph Kurup (then PBS Secretary-General), Tan Sri Bernard Dompok and Datuk Mark Koding formed their respective parties. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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