Respect wishes of majority – Upko
Par Bersatu Sabah’s obvious denial of the fact that the majority of the people in Sabah have rejected them and BN only goes to show the weaknesses in its leadership.
KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah’s (PBS) obvious denial of the fact that the majority of the people in Sabah have rejected them and BN only goes to show the weaknesses in its leadership.
United Pasok Momogun KadazanDusun Murut Organisation (Upko) information chief Datuk Dr Laurentius Nayan Ambu said Pairin should realise that the failure of PBS to deliver its seats in the recently concluded 14th general election was one of the main reasons for the downfall of BN.
“Pairin said PBS and BN should have been the government. Clearly from this statement alone, it implies that what matters for him is to form a government regardless whether they have the majority support from the people or otherwise,” said Laurentius in a statement yesterday.
“Pairin, it is not only about being government of the day, it is about respecting and fulfilling the wishes of the majority. If you do not have a clear mandate from the people and to bulldoze and force the formation of the government based on the minority support, that would be the ultimate betrayal of democracy and the aspiration of the people,” Laurentius said.
He said Upko’s decision to leave BN and form a coalition government with Warisan, DAP and PKR was taken after it was considered that 60 percent of the voters had voted against BN and wanted change.
“When Upko’s then acting president Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau met with Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, no terms and conditions were given by the party but instead only to state that Upko has heard the voice of the majority and offered to form a coalition government.
“Pairin also said that PBS did not betray the voice of the people, but their action was hypocritical because they accepted the support of STAR who had campaigned hard for the downfall of the BN government,” he pointed out.
“The irony of it all was that he himself (Pairin) had lost the seat of Tambunan and that PBS also lost the seat of Bingkor, also to STAR.
“If PBS had delivered these two seats, BN would have won the election by a simple majority of 31 seats. If Pairin is such a principled man then he ought to have rejected these two STAR assemblymen from supporting BN, who by the way in Pairin’s own definition, STAR would be traitors to their voters,” Laurentius explained.
“Pairin publicly called Upko and Madius as traitors. How about his very own brother Datuk Dr Jeffery Kitingan who contested and beat him in Tambunan?” he asked.
“Did not Jeffery make a Uturn and supported the BN. So Upko are traitors to PBS while Dr Jeffery is an angel? What logic?
“Therefore, Pairin and PBS should start owning up to their own mistakes and weaknesses in failing to deliver the seats to BN and stop taking the easy way out by blaming others,” advised Laurentius.
“Pairin should remember that in 1990 on the eve of the general election, he decided to take PBS out from BN and joined forces with Semangat 46 only after managing to convince the BN leadership then to allow PBS to use their own logo representing BN.
“This was the ultimate betrayal when after securing an advantage of using its own logo and managing to ensure no other component BN parties stood in their respective parliamentary constituency, he decided to abandon his partners in BN.
“In the recent election, Pairin said that PBS did not move an inch when BN collapsed because they respected the voters’ wishes and only subsequently they left BN because the turn of events forced them to.
What could that turn of event be? That the majority of the people had rejected BN? This is another hypocritical and ambiguous reason given by Pairin to justify their action but condemning Upko’s,” he reasoned.
“If indeed true, that PBS wanted to respect the wishes of the voters then they should have stayed put in BN.
“So Pairin and PBS should start owning to their own failures and weaknesses.
There is a reason why PBS has lost so many seats in the recent general election. Surely it was not because of Upko’s decision,” said Laurentius.