Kurup failed the voters: PBS

(Daily Express) Kota Kinabalu: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) cautioned Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) President Tan Sri Joseph Kurup against overconfidence in notching victory for the Barisan Nasional should a by-election be called for the Pensiangan Parliamentary seat.

"It seems he had forgotten that the constituency has never been won by PBRS in the real sense but was given free to it in the name of the BN spirit," said PBS Secretary-General Datuk Radin Malleh.

The Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister was responding to Kurup's contention that PBS President Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan had hurt the BN Pensiangan Parliamentary by-election machinery preparation when he said that the selection of candidate for the BN should not be automatic.

Radin said that in fact, Kurup was the one who did not know how to read the political situation and local sentiment in Pensiangan.

"The voters there want a candidate from the majority Murut community.

"They say that Kurup who had been the Assemblyman for Sook since 1985 until 2008 except for the period between 1999 and 2004 and even though having held the posts of a full Minister, Finance Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, the area remained lagging in terms of basic infrastructure and other development," claimed Radin.

"The voters can vouch for that," he added. Towards this end, he said Kurup should do some soul-searching for the sake of the people's future in Pensiangan as well as the fate of the BN.

"Hence, Kurup should put the interest of the people in Pensiangan and BN before anything else," he said.