PARTI Bersatu Sabah insists it should be part of Barisan Nasional’s drive to recapture Penampang, a Kadazan hot seat where it once held considerable sway.

The party’s Moyog division chief and supreme council member, John Chryso Masabal, proposed that the state seats in the parliamentary constituency be shared equally among component BN parties in the 14th general election.

He said currently, the Moyog state seat and Penampang have been allocated to Upko, while MCA has been given the Kapayan state seat.

“Equally sharing the seats will make BN stronger and united. It also pushes everybody to work harder and instils a sense of belonging in all of us in Penampang. 

“Traditionally, Penampang and Moyog are PBS seats. The party has never lost in any election in Penampang, even when it was in the opposition,” he said.

The district was once a PBS stronghold, before several members in 1990s left to form Upko, led by Bernard Dompok.

Penampang fell to the opposition in the 13th general election in 2013, with Darell Leiking being made MP, while Moyog fell into Terrence Siambun and Kapayan to Edwin Bosi.

Leiking and Siambun had contested on PKR’s ticket, but later left to formed Parti Warisan Sabah, led by former Umno vice-president cum Semporna MP Shafie Apdal. Bosi left DAP Sabah to join Parti Anak Negeri led by former PBS secretary Henrynus Amin.

Leiking alleges that Upko has derided Warisan’s presence in Penampang with racial rhetoric.

Warisan was labelled “Parti Lanun” or “Parti Suluk”, a derogatory remark made on Shafie’s ethnicity, a Bajau, and its relation with armed gunmen from the Southern Philippines terrorising Sabah’s east coast districts, which includes Shafie’s Semporna.

Siambun won the Moyog state seat against Upko Phillip Lasimbang in a four-cornered fight in the 13 general election, with a 1,682 vote majority.

Leiking on the other hand defeated Upko’s president Bernard Dompok to helm the Penampang parliamentary seat with a resounding 10,216 vote majority.

Around 60% of voters in Penampang are non-Muslim Bumiputeras, 30% Chinese and 5% Muslim Bumiputera.

The Malaysian Insight was informed that Upko has completed the list of potential candidates for the parliamentary seat, with acting president Wilfred Madius Tangau, indicating that a young candidate would be fielded in the constituency.

Among those on the list are Upko youth executive secretary Carl Moosom, former Penampang district officer and present Moyog community development leader William Sampil, entrepreneur Caesar Mandela Malakun, who is a Upko’s Komulakan executive committee member and the party division’s economy and welfare bureau chairman. – February 6, 2018.