KOTA KINABALU: Sabah UMNO Election Director Jeffery Nor Mohamad has chided the actions of STAR Tanjung Aru’s division chief, Hiew Choon Yew, for questioning and challenging the existence and democratic rights of Barisan Nasional (BN) to participate in the 17th state election.
He said Hiew should delve into the political history that the president of STAR, Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, was previously part of BN and had even applied to join UMNO, albeit for a short time.
Jeffery stressed that if Hiew truly believes that the Sabah government should be determined solely by local political parties, then ‘why not ask Pakatan Harapan (PH) to leave the current state government?’.
“Hiew must be honest with the people of Sabah and not play political games, as if Sabahans can be easily fooled – with one hand rejecting BN and the other welcoming PH,” he said.
Jeffery added that Hiew’s statement was unfair, as it did not address PH and was only directed at BN or Perikatan Nasional (PN).
“If he claims that the relationship within BN is shaky, Hiew needs to realise that the relationships among the parties in BN existed long before STAR was formed… so there is no need to interfere in BN’s affairs,” he said.
In this regard, Jeffery, who is also the Putatan UMNO Chief, suggested that STAR Tanjung Aru contest in the Tanjung Aru state constituency to prove his statements true.
“So before interfering in other parties’ matters, think first about resolving issues within the GRS coalition itself, as we have never interfered in your affairs within the GRS coalition.
“To know that a party has a high level of confidence that the people of Sabah will accept them, the date for the dissolution of the DUN should already be known and not wait until the last moments of the term, which invites negative perception,” he said.
