APS takes SAPP to task for insulting Bumburing, Lajim

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KOTA KINABALU: Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) information and communication director Lesaya Lopog Sorudim has taken Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee to task for his statement against the Tuaran and Beaufort members of parliament.

Lesaya was of the opinion that Yong’s statement had insulted not only the two MPs but also all Sabahans.

“Yong’s statement is tantamount to accusing PPPS president Datuk Seri Panglima Lajim Ukin and APS president Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred M. Bumburing of bribery when he said that duo are bringing goodies from Sabah to Kuala Lumpur in order to be chosen as candidates,” he said.

According to Lesaya, Yong’s statement is an insult not just to Bumburing and Lajim but to the people of Sabah where the majority of them are now coming together in support of these two leaders.

It is indeed an insult, especially to the Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) communities who now looked up to these two leaders as their flag bearer in carrying out their struggle further, he opined.

“Could anyone in their right frame of mind ever imagine Bumburing and Lajim disembarking from an airplane in KLIA armed with a bucket load of tiger prawns or lobsters or even a bundle of bird’s nests under their armpit purportedly to be given to some leaders in Kuala Lumpur in order to be chosen as candidates?

“Can anyone ever imagine SAPP which was gaining much popularity and respect when it first left BN and is now resorting to such low-level political mindset?

“Speaking of Bumburing, let me remind Yong that if ever it was the desire of Datuk Wilfred Bumburing to only be a candidate, it would have been better for him to remain in BN as being the deputy president of a BN component as he had every opportunity to make himself as one of the BN candidates, after all being an incumbent, he is the best person to retain the Tuaran parliamentary seat for BN.

“Let me also remind Yong that in many of his speeches heard by several thousand people, Bumburing had often said that if he could help put in place a new government to replace BN without having to be the candidate, he would be the happiest man on earth,” he said.

Yong’s statement and accusation only go to show how politically short-sighted SAPP is and how it is deprived of any issues to portray itself as an alternative to BN.

Instead of attacking BN and Umno, SAPP surprisingly chose to attack fellow Sabahan opposition leaders, Lesaya stressed.

This only goes to prove that SAPP’s ultimate aim and objective are to gain political power for themselves, he said, adding that this also goes to show that SAPP is no longer interested in any form of electoral understanding and pact with other opposition grouping in Sabah in the coming 13th general election.

“Along these lines, I would like to remind Yong that he has a lot of explanation to do on what he did when during his tenure as Chief Minister of Sabah (where) several hundred thousand acres of forest lands were designated as FMU (Forest Management Unit) and were signed off to several companies, little realizing the implications resulting from this policy where several hundred families from the native communities being trapped in the FMU areas.

“These people were barred from cultivating the lands which they have been residing for several generations, illegal for them to cut down trees to build houses and several other restrictions which made their lives even more miserable and poorer.

“Why was the interest of native populations who have been residing within the FMU-designated areas not given any consideration or provided with certain guarantees that under the so-called FMU their interest would be protected and guaranteed?

“And mind you, this was done during Yong’s time as Chief Minister. Indeed, Sabahans have now come to realise the truth in an old English saying, ‘once bitten, twice shy’ when it comes to who our next Chief Minister should be,” he said.