Bung: Sabah political crisis not over, but promises Umno won’t ‘guling’ Hajiji state administration

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — The Sabah political crisis is far from over, state Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Mokhtar Radin said today despite the recent intervention from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that forced a state Cabinet reshuffle.

Speaking to reporters at the World Trade Centre during the ongoing Umno general assembly, Bung said the situation in Sabah is calmer now than last week as the party does not want to trigger further upheavals that may enable other parties to be involved, especially from rival Perikatan Nasional (PN).

“The political crisis cannot be resolved even though it is calm in Sabah, but the unrest is still not over because the government formation at the initial stage is from Umno and PN.

“This is also a question. It is OK. People play politics, we play politics too,” he told reporters.

But Bung was firm that Umno will not take part in any attempt to “guling” (topple) the state government.

“Toppling by forming another government, this word guling is malicious. Our goal is to correct the political direction so that the people and Sabah can become a state capable of development.

“Guling means destroying. There are different definitions. We don’t want to overthrow, we want to determine so that the people of Sabah get their rightful place by the current government,” he added.

Two days ago, Bung said Umno would not recognise Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor’s reshuffled state Cabinet line-up.

This includes the appointment of fellow Umno assemblyman Datuk Shahelmey Yahya as the new Sabah deputy chief minister replacing Bung, and Sugut assembyman Datuk James Ratib as the new state community development and people’s wellbeing minister.

The duo were among the five Umno dissidents who went against the state chapter’s move to pull out from the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah government.

The other three Sabah Umno assemblymen seen as having gone rogue are: Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob (Sindumin); Datuk Jasnih Daya (Pantai Dalit); and Datuk Arshad Bistari (Tempasuk).

Bung said Sabah Umno will refer the matter to the disciplinary board at the national level as their move undermined the party and Barisan Nasional.

Reports of Sabah politics being in tatters emerged since last week with claims that Bung was leading the state Umno to work with Parti Warisan to oust Hajiji from his state chief minister post.

Both Bung and Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal claimed Hajiji no longer commanded the majority of the 79-seat Sabah legislature.

But Anwar brokered a temporary truce when he flew to Kota Kinabalu from an official visit to Indonesia and asked Hajiji to set aside political differences to form a unity state government.