Sabah Barisan Nasional’s ‘rebel’ party Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) has left little doubt that it no longer holds any desire to remain part of the Barisan Nasional.
Not only has it engaged openly in a war of words with BN component party Parti Bersatu Sabah of former chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan, it is also trading ‘verbal blows’ now with the state Umno.
Political observers say Sapp, led by another former chief minister Yong Teck Lee whose party has two MPs and four state assemblypersons (including deputy chief minister Raymond Tan), is only waiting to be kicked out from the ruling coalition.
The BN supreme council has been dragging its feet to make a final decision after Sapp’s response to its show-cause letter for supporting a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Now a senior state Umno leader Yahya Hussain, who is also a deputy chief minister and state Umno secretary, has publicly called on Yong “to emulate Raymond Tan (Yong’s deputy in Sapp) with regards to loyalty, mutual respect and humility.
In response, Sapp information chief Kassim Sulaiman said in a statement today that Yahya has insulted every Sapp member by his remarks and he has no moral standing to tell Sapp what to do.
Disregarding feelings of others
The Umno leader, Kassim sarcastically added, had been exemplary indeed when he looked down upon others, like the occasion when he demanded that the Putatan parliamentary seat, held by Upko president Bernard Dompok be given to Umno.
“This was said in the presence of Dompok himself. His outburst with total disregard to the feeling of other BN partners was widely reported. So what is Yahya talking about?”, asked Kassim.
Kassim said Sapp has no intention of meddling in the affairs of other political parties, especially Umno, and it would like others to do the same.
“There is nothing wrong in commenting on the present political system if the system is not capable of addressing issues affecting the livelihood of the people,” he pointed out.
The Sapp information chief said it was not the statements of Yong Teck Lee that had caused a destabilising effect on the politics and economy of the state, but more due to the inability of the government in solving various problems faced by Sabahans.
“I strongly urge the senior Sabah Umno leader, as a cabinet member, to continuously pursue matters affecting the people instead of making disparaging remarks against others,” Kassim said.
news n photo courtesy of Malaysiakini
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