PM: FORMER FEDERAL MINISTER WANTED TO BE APPOINTED SABAH CHIEF MINISTER

He wanted to be Sabah chief minister, but did not get it, says PM

AFORMER Barisan Nasional leader left the coalition when his request to become the next chief minister of Sabah was denied by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Without mentioning names, Najib said the former cabinet minister then formed a party to chase his own ambitions.

In an apparent reference to former federal minister and Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, Najib said a political party that was based on personal ambition would not sustain itself.

When Shafie was still in BN, he was linked to factions that were against Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.

Shafie had since left the coalition and formed Parti Warisan Sabah, of which he is president.

Najib, who is in Sabah on a three-day working visit, said “the leader” asked to become chief minister.

“He asked to become chief minister and he did not get it. That was his personal ambition.

“He left because of personal ambition and not because BN was not good. To me, personal ambition should not come before the struggle for the people.

“How can we build a political party based on personal ambition? It cannot be sustained.

“A party must be established based on pure struggle that shares idealism, like Umno and BN, so we can bring progress to the people,” Najib said during the launch of the Taman Batu Sapi People’s Housing Project here yesterday.

The prime minister advised the people here not to be fooled by promises made by opposition leaders, especially those who were former BN leaders.

“So now, he is saying everything done by the government is not right, because he did not get to be chief minister,” said Najib.

Earlier in his speech, Musa also took a veiled jab, rubbishing the same opposition leader’s claims that there was no development in Sabah.

“How dare he say that when he was holding an important post in the Federal Government for years. And, what has he done?

“Sabah is among the biggest states, so, of course, it would require huge allocations that have been channelled to many projects. However, not all have reached the people,” said Musa.