Ramlee (third from left) and the Semporna Umno leaders at the press conference yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: Semporna Umno is still intact and strong and not affected by the resignations of several leaders, said acting divisional chief Datuk Nasir Tun Sakaran.
He said 12 of the division’s 20 elected committee members had not resigned.
“We are still intact and our division has not been dissolved as claimed by some,” he said yesterday.
Nasir was commenting on the resignation of Semporna Umno vice chief Datuk Jaujan Sambakong, leaders of the two wings and 300 branch chiefs.
It was reported that the decision to quit the party was made after a committee meeting of Semporna Umno division chaired by Jaujan, who is also Sulabayan assemblyman.
The move followed the Umno Supreme Council’s decision to suspend vice president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, who is also Semporna Umno divisional chief.
Nasir added he was still assessing the number of members who have announced their resignations.
“I do not think it is as many as 300 branch chairmen, it is much less than half that number.
“At the moment, I can’t say for sure as some have denied they’ve resigned,” he said.
He confirmed that only Jaujan, and Wanita and Youth chiefs have resigned.
Nasir, son of Umno’s first chief minister in Sabah Tun Sakaran Dandai and also cousin to Shafie, said he would discuss with Sabah Umno leaders in filling up the vacancies.
Meanwhile, Bugaya assemblyman Datuk Ramlee Marhaban also said at a press conference yesterday that the Semporna Umno division is still intact and strong.
He said that there are still many leaders in Semporna who are capable of taking care and managing the division.
Present at the meeting were Semporna Umno Youth chief Mohd Aziz Jamman, its Wanita movement chief, Manis Muka Dara and Puteri chief, Zakiah Kalipunya.
Semporna is made up of three state seats – Senallang, Sulabayan and Bugaya.
Zakiah reportedly has issued a statement denying that she had resigned from Umno and was pledging loyalty to the party.
She said they would remain loyal to the party and respect the decision of the supreme council.
“We respect and love Shafie but we have to respect the final decision of the Umno supreme council,” she said, adding that they hoped the Umno disciplinary board would complete their report into Shafie’s alleged misconduct.
The two committee members absent from the meeting were Shafie and Nasir.
Shafie was in Medina, Saudi Arabia to perform umrah when the supreme council announced his suspension. He has said he would make a statement when he returns home.
Ramlee said as the Umno assemblyman for Bugaya and a member of Semporna Umno, he needed to clear the air on the position of the division following the announcement of the mass resignations.
“Semporna Umno is still intact and functioning. We deny the claim that Semporna has been dissolved following the mass resignations of its vice chief Datuk Jaujan Sambakong, Wanita chief, Youth chief and 300 branch chiefs.
“The claim that 300 branch chiefs had also resigned is not true. I was in Semporna yesterday and I was informed that the attendance (at the meeting) was only between 100 to 200 people and not all are ketua cabang (branch heads). Only about 50 branch chiefs attended and most of them claimed that they do not know about what was going to happen,” he said.
Ramlee, who is also Assistant Finance Minister, is of the opinion that those behind the mass resignations did so to embarrass Umno and to weaken its Semporna division.
“What is clear is that Semporna Umno is still strong. The division has 515 branches with 503 of them active so there is no way that Semporna Umno is paralyzed by the resignations of some of its leaders,” he said.
“Semporna Umno has existed from before and it does not mean that Semporna Umno is Datuk Shafie and vice versa. Semporna Umno continues to be strong and solid without Datuk Shafie,” he stressed.
He also claimed that many of the branch leaders have voiced out their regrets over the pretext used to get them to the meeting.
Of the 50 branch chiefs who were at the venue on Monday night, many have issued statements about their disappointment as they were informed the event was supposed to be a buka puasa event with Shafie.
They felt entrapped when all of a sudden an announcement on the resignation of 300 branch chiefs and 18 committee members was made, Ramlee said.
He is of the opinion that Shafie’s suspension was the result of his personal action and should not be seen that the disciplinary action will affect Semporna Umno members as a whole.
“Datuk Nasir is now acting divisional chief and we can work together to ensure that it is business as usual for the division,” he said.