Warisan leaders offer land in forest to voters – Bung
SANDAKAN: Barisan Nasional (BN) Sabah chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin claimed that Parti Warisan Sabah’s (Warisan) leaders had offered land in Kinabatangan to its people, but the land is part of the forest reserve.
“I guess they do that because I am contesting there (Lamag, Kinabatangan). There was a letter that was signed by the Chief Minister, which is an offer of land to the community in Kinabatangan involving over 5,000 hectares, to place a new village settlement.
“However, it is part of Class 6 forest reserve. Not only that there is a water catchment area, but it is also one of our national treasures.
“The forest reserve has never been disturbed, so how is it that Warisan leaders use this land to offer to the people? It means that this is their tactic to ‘hook’ the voters; as if they (people) are going to be given land if Warisan wins.
“This is absurd and it was done by the Warisan leaders in Kinabatangan to face me,” he said.
Bung said this at a press conference after the meet-thepeople session in BN Libaran Command Centre, Bandar Labuk Mile 7 here, with three BN candidates for Gum Gum, Sungai Sibuga and Sungai Manila seats respectively.
On another note, Bung also said that Warisan has been using slogan from the Philippines Government: ‘In God We Trust’ in its campaigning billboards.
He said that the very same slogan is widely used as a slogan in government departments in the Philippines, and that Warisan president Datuk Seri Panglima Shafie Apdal’s team had copied the slogan.
“This (quote on billboards) is definitely a copy of the Philippine government’s slogan…they (Warisan) may have many parties (allies), but they cannot copy the style of a country across the sea,” he said.
Bung Moktar said he was also puzzled by another quote on other billboards by Warisan, including one in Semporna, that bore the words “We are here to build a nation”.
“How can you build a country inside a country? During Warisan’s rule, the Philippines had been aggressively claiming Sabah as their own. So this could give hope to the Philippines on its claim over Sabah,” he added.
While the diplomatic spat between Malaysia and Philippines over Sabah is nothing new, many opined that the Philippines had gone too far last month after its congressional committee approved the inclusion of Sabah in a new map to be printed on Philippine passports.