PCS pullout from Gabungan Sabah a gift to Umno – Yong

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Cinta Sabah’s (PCS) pullout from Gabungan Sabah in April 2017 is a gift to Umno because it is the greatest fear of Umno if Sabah parties are united, according to Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee.

He said that Umno knows in Sabah, Malaya-based parties cannot defeat the Umno-led BN as shown in the last election.

“This is because Malaya-based parties are merely a mirror image of Umno-BN. But if the Sabah parties form a combined force, then Umno can be defeated in Sabah, because the most powerful weapon of Sabahans is the battle cry for Sabah’s rights and autonomy.

“And, if Umno is defeated in Sabah, then it loses its majority in Parliament. This is Umno’s greatest fear. Therefore, Umno will try all its means to break up the unity of Sabah parties,” Yong asserted in a statement yesterday.

“So, why did PCS pull out from Gabungan Sabah of which it (PCS) was a founding member?” Yong asked.

It is because its president Datuk Wilfred Bumburing wants to become the Chief Minister, he said.

Unable to accept other opposition parties into Gabungan Sabah, Bumburing took PCS into the wilderness and will end up on the wrong side of history as the person who split Sabahans, he claimed.

According to Yong, it was an open secret that both Bumburing and Parti Warisan president Datuk Shafie Apdal were aiming to be the Chief Minister of Sabah.

“This is the key reason why PCS and Parti Warisan are not able to match up with each other and with other parties.”

He said that in 2016, at the formative stage of Gabungan Sabah, which at that time, had only three parties (PCS, STAR and SAPP), it was PCS vice-president Datuk Kalakau Untol who was tasked to talk with Shafie who had been sacked as a federal minister as the latter was on the verge of leaving Umno.

“Datuk Kalakau informed us in Gabungan Sabah that Shafie’s new party, yet to be formed, was confident of winning 16 Umno seats, mostly in the east coast of Sabah.

“For that 16 seats, Shafie wanted to be recognised as the incoming Chief Minister. I told Datuk Kalakau that if Shafie can beat Umno in 16 seats, then the opposition can form the government and Shafie will be Chief Minister because his party would have the most number of seats among the four opposition parties.

“At about the same time, Datuk Wilfred informed us (in Gabungan) that Tan Sri Ibrahim Menudin had told him that, if Gabungan Sabah promises Shafie as Chief Minister, then ‘all problems with Gabungan can be overcome”.