Bumburing’s men slam Yong for ‘attacks’
Wilfred Bumburing’s group has accused SAPP of being on ‘sabotage’ mode.
Joseph Bingkasan, FMT
KOTA KINABALU: Pakatan Rakyat ally Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) is irked by accusation that its leader Wilfred Bumburing and Beaufort MP Lajim Ukin who helms another Anwar Ibrahim friendly grouping – Pakatan Perubahan Sabah – are bribing Anwar for seats in the coming general election.
Lashing out at SAPP president Yong Teck Lee, APS said it was an insult and a poor reflection of Yong who was once held in high respect for pulling his party out of the BN coalition in 2008.
Said APS information chief Lesaya Sorudim: “What Yong had uttered is an insult not just to Bumburing and Lajim but to the people of Sabah, the majority of whom are now coming together in support of these two leaders.”
Yong accused the two former Barisan Nasional MPs who quit the ruling coalition in July last year of “kow-towing” to Kuala Lumpur-based opposition parties in order to be Pakatan candidates.
The accusation published in a local newspaper yesterday has infuriated APS, who believe Yong is sabotaging the opposition’s chances in the coming election.
APS, which comprises mainly native leaders, said the criticism by Yong is an insult to the Kadazandusun and Murut (KDM) community who are looking up to the two leaders as their flag-bearers for political and social reforms in Sabah.
“Can anyone in their right frame of mind ever imagine Bumburing and Lajim disembarking from an airplane in KLIA armed with a bucket load of tiger prawns or lobsters or even a bundle of bird nests under their armpit purportedly to be given to some leaders in Kuala Lumpur in order to be chosen as candidates?
“Could anyone have ever imagined that SAPP, which gained so much popularity and respect when it first left BN, would now resort to such low-level political mindset?” Sorudim asked.
Yong claimed that the two leaders were bringing those goodies for their “political master” whenever they travelled to Kuala Lumpur.
“Speaking of Bumburing, let me remind Yong that if ever it was the desire of Bumburing that he only wants to be a candidate, it would have been better for him to remain in BN because being the deputy president of a BN component then, he had every opportunity to make himself as one of the BN candidates.
“After all being an incumbent [MP], he is the best person to retain the Tuaran parliamentary seat for BN,” Sorudim told FMT.
‘SAPP’s politically short-sighted’
He said Bumburing had often said that if he could help put in place a new government to replace BN without having to be a candidate, he would be content.
“Yong’s statement and accusation only goes to show how politically short-sighted SAPP is and how it is deprived of any issue to portray itself as an alternative to BN,” he added.
Sorudim said he was surprised that Yong, instead of attacking BN and Umno, chose to attack his fellow Sabahan opposition leaders.
“This only goes to prove that SAPP’s ultimate objective is to gain political power for itself.”
