Ex-veep says ‘not complaining about LDP’
KUDAT: Former Liberal Democratic Party vice president cum Tanjong Kapor division secretary Pak Chee En, who quit the party Thursday night to join Parti Warisan Sabah, expressed confidence in the leadership of Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
“I am not complaining about LDP but they are part of the BN coalition and that’s where the problem starts,” he said.
Pak, who started his politics in 1976 with the Sabah Chinese Association, joined Berjaya in 1982 when encouraged by Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat, a former Chief Minister, before signing up with LDP seven years later.
According to him, the economy in Kudat was at its worst and the BN government did not seem interested in doing anything to alleviate the plight of the people, and that many youths had been forced to leave the district for greener pastures.
“I felt very attracted by Shafie Apdal’s vision especially when I read in the media that he had pledged to build a deep-water port in Kudat as well as a rail link from Kudat to the State capital.
A well-known personality in Kudat, Pak is also president of the Kudat Chinese Chamber of Commerce and heads several non-governmental organisations.
At a dinner here on Thursday, he and his wife, Lo Pit Lee who is also vice president of LDP Wanita led some 1,285 others who opted to leave LDP for Warisan.
Shafie said he was impressed by Pak’s commitment to serve Warisan without asking for anything in return.
“As I had said earlier in my speech here, as well as on many other occasions, there are development plans in the pipeline for Kudat and these will create many job opportunities so that our people need not have to go elsewhere,” he said.
At the same gathering, a former Umno Wanita Karambunai leader, Hajah Marjais Jailani was said to have led 520 people from Umno, PBS and Upko in the Tanjung Kapur state constituency to join Warisan.