Half of PBS supreme council members new faces
KOTA KINABALU: New faces make up almost half of Parti Bersatu Sabah ( PBS) supreme council members for the 2018-2021 term.
The party also sees for the first time, since its inception 33 years ago, a new president, in the form of Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili, who was unchallenged for the post during PBS’s 33rd annual delegates congress and party election.
Speaking to reporters after the announcement of the new lineup on Saturday, Maximus said there are 17 more posts to be filled by appointment, and the vacancies are expected to be filled by next week.
“I will have to balance, regional, racially, veteran and new leaders as well as gender,” he said, when pointing out that almost 50 percent of those elected to office at the party election held at the KDCA building in Penampang on Nov 17 were new faces.
Meanwhile, when asked to comment on the proposal to lower the voting age in Malaysia to 18 years old, Maximus said that PBS is open to the proposal, but proper explanation, education must be given on the matter so that people will understand.
“But, we are not keen on automatic registration. Unless the electoral roll is clean, we can trust it, but if it is filled with dubious voters, automatic registration is questionable. We reserve our comment and we will not support unless there is a clean electoral roll,” he said.
Maximus also opined that there is the need to study the proposal to allow political parties to set up branches in universities.
“We have to study the likely impact. My personal view is that students go to universities to further their studies, not to play politics. Education first, politics second,” he stressed.
The PBS supreme council line-up elected for the 2018-2021 term are: President – Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Maximus J Ongkili; Deputy Presidents – Datuk Seri Panglima Radin Malleh, Datuk Jamilah Sulaiman and Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai. Vice-Presidents are Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam, Datuk Daniel Kinsik, Datuk Almudin Kaida, Ruslan Muharam and Datuk Peter Mak.
Elected to the supreme council are Fredoline Totin, Suman Yasambun, Stanis Buandi, Samson Gapid, Peter J Allion, Datuk William Majimbun, Datuk Louis Rampas, Mohd Lin Harun, Murshid Mohd Rais, Francis Yusof, Omar Hakim, Mohd Dinn Jamirin, Goon Thien Shang, Kong Nyuk Tau, Datuk Johnny Goh and Ng Tze Tsai.