Bad blood sparks verbal war in Sabah state assembly

Acrimony over the aftermath of the last general election boiled over in a war of words between Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau and two Umno assemblymen.

The verbal exchange started when Umno’s Sulaman assemblyman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor referred to Tangau, the Upko acting president, as his “friend who ran to the other side” during a supplementary question on the state government’s promise to create 600,000 jobs by 2023.

Upko left Barisan Nasional on May 10 to form the state government with Parti Warisan Sabah and its partners PKR and DAP.

“This is nothing but janji terang bulan (empty promises),” said Hajiji.

Tangau, who is also state Trade and Industry Minister and Tuaran MP, retorted: “We did not run. Speaking on this matter, Umno can go back to Peninsular Malaysia.”

Hajiji retaliated by demanding that Tangau refrain from bringing up Umno during the assembly.

“Don’t talk about Umno here. What kind of Deputy Chief Minister is this? Answer the question. You only won (in Tuaran) because Umno made you win,” he said.

When Deputy Speaker Datuk Ahmad Abdul Rahman called for calm, Apas assemblyman Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan told him to “act fairly without showing bias”.

“There is no bias. If I am biased, you will see that I’m being biased,” said Ahmad.

The commotion stopped briefly when independent Pitas assemblyman Datuk Bolkiah Ismail, raising a point of order, asked the politicians to be silent while being addressed by the Chair and to focus on the issues being discussed.

“Kau jangan cakap banyak sana! (Don’t talk too much),” Hajiji told Bolkiah as the other assemblymen broke into laughter.

Ahmad then reminded the assemblymen to be “careful” with their choice of words before granting Tangau the floor to answer Hajiji’s questions.

“This is the last warning ... if you want to fight, do it elsewhere when I’m not around,” Ahmad said.