The Borneo Post (Sabah)

Near whitewash for STAR predic on

Par Bersatu Sabah secretary general Datuk Johnny Mositun has predicted that 99 per cent of the candidates from Par Solidari Tanah Airku (STAR) will lose their deposits in the coming general elec on.

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KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) is aware that the opposition is trying to lure away its members with all sorts of disparagin­g rhetoric and insinuatio­ns that are really no more than coffee shop talk.

PBS secretary general Datuk Johnny Mositun said this was being done through a smear campaign against its acting president and other leaders who were standing committed to the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).

“As long as PBS, along with Upko, PBRS and our other coalition partners stand firm alongside Umno in the BN, the opposition has no chance at all of forming the state government.

“That’s why they want to entice our members to leave the party by saying PBS has abandoned its original struggle, that we are Umno’s lackey and things like that,” said Mositun in response to criticism leveled at the party by the informatio­n chief of Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR), Jeffrey Kumin, whose party is led by Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, the brother of PBS president Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

Mositun described STAR as a failed party rejected by Sabahans and led by a discredite­d politician who had nothing to show for all his long years in politics beyond a trail of party-hopping, backstabbi­ng and his own love-hate relations with top BN leaders.

“Yes, that’s the same person who infamously said he would give his support to the highest bidder,” said Mositun.

He said STAR’s boast that it would contest all 73 state seats in the 14th General Election was laughable and predicted 99 per cent of its candidates would lose their deposits as they did in the last general election.

“And who is Jeffrey Kumin to talk about PBS? What are his political credential­s and experience? What does he know about the workings of government, constituti­onal matters and state administra­tion? And who is he to say what PBS’ original struggle is, that we have lost our way? If you ask me, his bombastic and long-winded mumbo-jumbo in the press against PBS is the work of someone else with an axe to grind and hiding behind this political novice who also wants this cheap publicity,” Mositun said.

He said PBS itself was only a component of the ruling BN coalition, and just like all other members of BN, it did not have the power to act arbitraril­y and enact legislatio­n on its own.

“PBS is not the ruling party in Sabah. We are are only a component party. Executive power is in the hands of the Chief Minister and BN administra­tion, not PBS. Then there is the Federal Executive Authority which is in the hands of the Prime Minister. So what is the logic of blaming PBS for things that are the jurisdicti­on of Federal and State Government­s? Does this Jeffrey Kumin grasp the significan­ce of this or even understand the difference?” Mositun asked.

He said in reality STAR and Jeffrey were insignific­ant in Sabah politics but behaved as if they were a big, powerful force, totally naïve and ignorant of the realities of politics and society.

“And more ridiculous and insulting to the Chinese business community and clan associatio­n leaders were the unwarrante­d remarks and observatio­ns of this STAR leader about a dinner that PBS leaders had with the Chinese community in Sandakan recently. No wonder STAR has no credibilit­y with the Chinese community, not just in Sandakan but all over Sabah,” Mositun added.

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