Mositun criticises Junz for glorifying Usno era

KIMANIS: Former State Assembly deputy speaker Datuk Johnny Mositun criticised Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) vice-president Datuk Junz Wong for painting a glorious picture of the Usno era and equating it with Warisan to elicit sympathy from Muslim voters in the Kimanis parliamentary constituency.

Wong had claimed that Sabah residents could emerge wealthier and more dignified as experienced during the ‘glory days’ of Usno through the Warisan government.

He had also claimed that it had been the biggest mistake in Sabah’s political history to dissolve Usno and allow Umno into Sabah.

“I beg to differ, but Wong seems to have forgotten that it was the people of Sabah who had rejected Usno by putting Berjaya into power from (1975-1984) and PBS (1985-1994). Umno did not topple Usno. The late Tun Datu Mustapha Datu Harun and Usno invited Umno to Sabah.

He said Wong conveniently ignored or was ignorant about the “rape” of our timber wealth by the Usno elites and tycoons.

“Many non-Muslim senior civil servants, especially Chinese, were placed on contract and denied promotions or appointments on merit unless they converted to Islam,” Mositun claimed.

“There were mass conversions by force or trickery, Christian priests and missionaries were arrested and deported regularly. Political opponents were arrested or mysteriously failed to turn up at nomination centres during state and parliamentary elections,” he alleged.

Mositun asked Wong if he had ever been to Kampung Brunei, Pimping or Binsulok during the Usno era, and if so, how he had reached those places and how long it had taken him.

“There were no roads, not even dirt roads, no electricity, no piped water, no telephones. The Klias Peninsula then was a vast, sparsely inhabited mangrove swamp even up to the late eighties.

“Every rainy season all those places would be flooded, cut off from Beaufort and the rest of the outside world. And today this Junz Wong is telling those very people about ‘that rich and dignified Usno era” that they were supposed to have lived through! That takes the cake,” Mositun said.

Calling on Junz to campaign on real and relevant issues instead of taking cheap shots at Umno or BN with lies and distorted history, Mositun claimed Warisan-PH leaders like Wong had no real vision for the Kimanis parliamentary constituency.

“That’s why they are relying on empty rhetoric, slogans and badmouthing Umno/BN, PBS and other opposition parties.

“They hijack plans and projects already planned by the BN but waiting for implementation to make it looks like it is their doing, like a district office or jobs with SOIG, a road or bridge here and there. “Lembu punya susu, sapi punya nama” is all it is,” he asserted.

Mositun said voters in the Kimanis should judge for themselves the sincerity of Warisan-PH leaders like Junz.

“Prior to GE14 he was going around condemning the TAED, portraying himself as the people’s hero to save Tanjung Aru Beach. Last year he proudly crowed victory declaring that TAED was canceled, that he had saved Tanjung Aru beach for the citizens of Kota Kinabalu.

“When it turned out that TAED will proceed anyhow, Junz has gone quiet as a mouse. Scared to lose his new found perks and privileges, I suppose,” he said.

Taking a final dig at Junz, Mositun suggested that in the next general election Junz should repeat his so-called understanding of Sabah’s political history and elaborate on the “glorius rich and dignified Usno era” in a Chinesemajority constituency to see their reaction, and he could also submit it in the form of a PhD thesis to UMS.

Mositun said it was strange that with PSS being the hot topic in Kimanis right now, Junz had not talked about PSS at Kampung Brunei.

“These 600,000 would-be PSS holders have to work for a living. Their economic activities run parallel to that of local Muslim bumiputera, like fishing, farming, small enterprises, food stalls, eateries and even in small services.

“They also provide cheap labour for the big businessmen and corporations, plantations and industries dominated by nonbumiputera. So who will feel the worst impact of legitimizing the presence of so many foreigners with PSS?” Mositun asked.