PBS laughs off UPKO Youth’s call for Presidential Council
PAPAR: The call by Upko Youth Chief Felix Joseph Saang for the Warisan-PH state government to set up a consultative group of the presidents of Warisan, Upko, DAP and PKR to be known as the Presidential Council, has been dismissed as pure grandstanding by Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) vicepresident Datuk Johnny Mositun.
“It is truly laughable. Where is the need for such a council when the four parties concerned have already formed the government with each of its presidents in the State Cabinet and having full access to the Chief Minister? Or is there something lacking in the Warisan-PH coalition government?” Mositun said.
The Upko Youth chief made the proposal last week claiming that such a council was needed in the light of the current political situation with the people “confused” by recent developments. He had also said that solidarity between the coalition partners, while good, needed to be strengthened with the respective presidents discussing matters in the proposed Council.
Mositun said Felix had probably realized Upko was no longer as “indispensible” as before as Sabah Umno had collapsed and almost all its assemblymen and members of parliament had pledged support for the government.
“But I don’t see how a Presidential Council will make any difference to inter-party cooperation in the ruling coalition, I don’t know,” he said.
Mositun said the proposed Presidential Council could not be equated with the one formed by PBS, Upko and PBRS just prior to the 14th general election (GE14), when Upko was still a Barisan Nasional (BN) member.
“As the then PBS Secretary General, I know all that transpired, especially the pledges of loyalty and commitment from Upko. Then after Tan Sri Musa was sworn in as Chief Minister, Upko cast aside all ethics and sense of honor to switch sides. Can anyone even believe this Upko Youth chief now?” Mositun said.
The PBS vice-president noted that contrary to what Upko would have Sabahans believe, Upko’s about-turn in joining the WarisanPH coalition was not unanimously supported by the party grassroots. Some had even left the party out of a sense of betrayal.
He said Upko’s cross-over after GE14 had been arbitrarily done by the president and a handful of cronies without prior consultation , presenting its members with a fait accompli they could do nothing about.
“That caused great shock and resentment. Even a few assemblymen were confused at first. The disillusionment among grassroots is still there. Its former Youth chief Arthur Sen resigned to join PBS, and Kuamut assemblyman Datuk Masiung Banar also left Upko. There is also a groundswell of anger towards Upko president Madius Tangau in Tuaran among those who voted for him on the BN ticket,” he noted.
Mositun said the Upko Youth chief probably did not realize that his proposal for a Presidential Council only betrayed the fact that problems were brewing within the Warisan-PH coalition.
“He will deny it, of course, but it is obvious the second echelon, at least the Youth Chief, and grassroots in Upko are starting to have doubts about their ‘security of tenure’ in the Warisan-PH government. “Surely Warisan, DAP and PKR are also not blind to the fact that Upko could just as easily betray them like it did to BN, and can we blame them for seeing the former Umno representatives as ‘insurance’ against such a possibility,” Mositun said.