TUARAN: Tuaran Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing does not agree with Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Pairin Kitingan’s description of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Bumburing, who now heads Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) which is aligned to Pakatan Rakyat (PR), was of the opinion that Pairin’s portrayal of Najib as a political ‘doctor’ shows a lack of political awareness on numerous political, social and cultural problems faced by the people in Sabah.
“Instead of giving the right and actual attributes our current Prime Minister actually possesses, Pairin has given him the wrong attributes.
“If indeed Najib is a political ‘doctor’ as Pairin has highly attributed him with, then he (the PM) has all along been giving only generic medicines for the illnesses that have fallen on the people of Sabah,” he said.
Citing the “illegal immigrant disease and the extraordinary population explosion” in Sabah, the former UPKO deputy president said, “this is the real disease, it is the cancer that is eating into the fabric of our society that Najib should have given the right kind of medications.”
Bumburing said the announcement on the establishment of the RCI was made almost a month ago during Najib’s visit to Sabah and yet there seem to be no indication when they would start their work.
“This makes me and the people of Sabah want to ask if the members of the RCI have received their letters of appointment to enable them to function,” he said.
Bumburing asserted that some of the ‘cure’ for the ‘illnesses’ mentioned by Pairin as being given by Najib to solve the people’s problems are just “generic medicines’ that do not have lasting effect on the livelihood of the people, especially those in the hardcore poor bracket.
“More so, how much do you expect from a RM500 monetary assistance that comes once after a 50-year period? What they should have done is to improve the delivery system in the e-kasih and ‘cari-cari’ programmes instead of randomly terminating the assistance on selected individuals.
“I have people coming to me complaining that their assistance has been terminated after having been approved and receiving the assistance for four months,” he claimed.
“The reason given for terminating the assistance on this particular individual is just the word “TAMAT” (Terminated),” he said.
“Clearly, if indeed Najib is a political doctor as portrayed by Pairin, then he has been carrying out the wrong diagnosis and thus giving the wrong medicines.
“I doubt if Pairin ever visited any remote rural areas where poverty among the Kdazandusun community are still prevalent. As such, I therefore challenge Pairin to personally go to the ground and find out for himself if the level of poverty among the KDM has been ‘cured’ by Najib,” he said.