Ongkili’s challenge to Jornah backfires, says ex-PBS man

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KOTA KINABALU: The 13th general election result for the Matunggong state seat disproved the claim by PBS deputy president Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili who said former assemblywoman Jornah Mozihim had no supporters in Matunggong, according to a former PBS member.

Porodong Magilin, who resigned from PBS just days before the polling day, said in a press statement yesterday that the defeat of PBS in the constituency showed candidate was a key factor.

“His accusation has been proven to be a blatant lie. Once again, I repeat that Jornah was not alone. We, the supporters of Jornah in Matunggong, felt very disappointed and dejected since 2008 when she was dropped abruptly at the 11th hour, paving the way for Sarapin (Sarapin Magana) to contest.

“In spite of this, she faithfully stayed put in PBS until she resigned just days before nomination day when she was again replaced by Sarapin,” said Porodong.

The Matunggong state seat was a traditional PBS stronghold since 1985. Even when PBS was an opposition party in 1999, voters had never failed to return the seat to PBS.

According to Porodong, PBS should not have any problem retaining the seat in 2013 if it had fielded a ‘winnable’ candidate wanted by the grassroots.

“This is a good lesson for Maximus and PBS president Tan Sri Pairin Kitingan. PBS lost Jornah and now PBS lost Matunggong.

“Maximus paid a very high price for issuing a challenge to Jornah to contest against him in the Kota Marudu parliamentary seat as he and Sarapin suffered a devastating blow when the majority of the voters in Matunggong rejected both Sarapin and Maximus,” he added.

Porodong noted that the election result showed that 8,904 votes in Matunggong went to opposition candidates and only 6,627 votes or 42.67 per cent went to Sarapin.

Maximus lost his popular votes when he only garnered 15,168 votes or 47.15 per cent of the total valid votes of 32,166 while 16,998 votes or 52.85 per cent of the votes went to opposition candidates.

Porodong pointed out that it was a grave miscalculation on the part of Maximus when he used the votes of 162 obtained by Sarapin during the PBS Matunggong divisional election in 2011 as a yardstick to gauge his popularity in N4.

“What are 162 votes compared to the 19,977 voters in Matunggong for GE13? Maximus should have borne in mind that the general election involved everyone and not just PBS members.

“If PBS leadership had bothered to listen to the people who wanted a change of candidate, Matunggong would still have been safely under its belt. I believe that Pairin had sent his ‘agents’ to gauge the opinion of the grassroots voters before he finally listed Jornah as among the PBS recommended candidates for the election to the chairman of the national front,” he said.

Paradong added that along with the Matunggong state seat, PBS suffered a great blow when another five PBS state seats and a parliamentary seat it contested went to the opposition this time round.