Press Statement by Sabah UMNO Information Chief/Member of Parliament for Libaran, Datuk Suhaimi Nasir
KOTA KINABALU: The statement made by the Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah and President of STAR, Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, accusing UMNO Sabah and Barisan Nasional (BN) of failing to fulfil promises during the PRN16 Sabah is a falsehood and an attempt to obscure his own betrayal.
Firstly, the so-called ‘friendly contest’ in PRN16 should not be viewed as a breach of promise, as the coalition at that time was a loose alliance formed to defeat Warisan and Pakatan Harapan (PH).
The GRS coalition was only officially announced on the nomination day, September 12, 2020. Prior to that, discussions were limited to BN and PN, while PBS remained ambiguous.
Therefore, any clashes between BN and PBS during that period cannot be deemed as betrayal.
Jeffrey should not forget that it was STAR that betrayed the agreement by fielding candidates against BN in constituencies that BN had won in the 2018 elections, specifically DUN Paginatan and DUN Sook.
Moreover, STAR also contested against PBS in six other seats, showcasing their opportunistic behaviour despite holding only two seats prior to PRN16 (Bingkor and Tambunan). A more significant betrayal occurred when PN endorsed independent candidates aligned with ‘Perikatan Nasional’ to run against BN.
After winning, these candidates were accepted into the government.
Isn’t this a blatant act of betrayal?
In summary, the untrustworthy parties are Jeffrey and PN, not BN.
Therefore, Jeffrey is not in a position to discuss loyalty and trust, as his own record contradicts such claims.
