WHILE Sabah Umno still has a presence in the state, its members must know that they are on borrowed time, says Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Sabah Star) president Jeffrey Kitingan.  

He said today that he expected Sabah Umno members to keep to their pledge to join other parties, and said they had plenty of choices if they felt uneasy about joining Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS). 

“For the time being, we in Gabungan Bersatu Sabah are still flexible, but they (Sabah Umno) must stick to their pledge and, eventually, there should be no more Umno in Sabah,” he said during a break in the state assembly sitting in Kota Kinabalu today.  

Umno members had pledged to join PBS as part of Gabungan Bersatu Sabah. 

The Gabungan Bersatu coalition has replaced Barisan Nasional in the Sabah after all of its state component parties – PBS, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and United Pasok Momogun KadazanDusun Murut – deserted the latter.

Sabah experienced a hung assembly when BN and Warisan-PH both tied at 29 seats in the 14th general election. 

Sabah Star eventually turned kingmaker after winning the Tambunan and Bingkor state seats. 

Kitingan said Umno’s entry into Sabah more than 20 years ago had been a mistake, and that this had been acknowledged by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. 

He said instead of being subservient to their peninsular counterparts, Sabah political leaders should be treated as partners. 

“If we are serious about the federation of Malaysia being a partnership, it is actually healthy for us to work together as partners, not under any of the partner political parties from peninsular Malaysia.

“If we do that, we will face what Umno Sabah had been facing all this years. Sabahans become subservient. 

“We couldn’t chart our own programmes as we had to refer everything to the federal, while the leaders are beholden to the Umno or PKR president. They are not beholden to Sabahans who elected them,” he said. 

Kitingan said Sabah parties should be given the chance to manage their own state. 

“The time is right for Sabah to correct its mistakes, and powers should be decentralised and handed back to Sabah and Sarawak. 

“There is no point for a federation or having ministries in Sabah if we continue to surrender so much power to the federal government,” he said, adding that he had noticed steps were being taken by the new government to hand some federal powers back to the states. 

He said partnership was the basis of the formation of Malaysia, and that originally, the positions of Sabah and Sarawak chief ministers were equal to that of the country’s prime minister. 

On the status of former Upko and PBRS elected representatives Bobbey Suan and Ellron Angin, Jeffrey said the door was open for both men to join either Sabah Star or PBS. – July 4, 2018.