APS has equal status in Pakatan Rakyat – Youth chief

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KOTA KINABALU: Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) Youth chief Denis Gimpah yesterday clarified that the movement is a component of Pakatan Rakyat and not working under any of its member parties.

Sabah STAR, through information chief Edward Linggu, had it all wrong about APS and their perception on its president, Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing, he said.

Denis was of the opinion that Sabah STAR’s latest media statement was nothing more than an act of covering their track which clearly seemed to have gone wrong all the way.

“Firstly, let me clearly state here that APS as perceived by Edward Linggu is not operating under any particular party in PR but has equal membership status with other members that make up PR as Datuk Wilfred Bumburing is a member of the PR National Council and sits alongside the presidents of the other parties in PR.

“Secondly, Edward’s claim that STAR is willing to work together with PR is clearly contradicting the stand taken by his boss (Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan) in not cooperating with ‘Malaya-based’ parties.

“This stand was clearly spelt out by his boss when launching Paginatan Star in Kampung Togudon Baru in May 2012 in which Jeffrey has labelled PKR as being worse than Umno. It is Edward who must go back to his drawing board and see if what he said about their party’s stand is consistent or not.

“Thirdly, Edward’s antics as Sabah STAR information chief clearly shows that their agenda is not about bringing a change in government but all about splitting the KDM (Kadazandusun Murut) support for the opposition and eventually enabling BN to win in the coming general election,” he claimed.

Denis was of the opinion that every political observer in Sabah can now clearly see and read the real political motive behind why Dr Jeffrey chose the Sarawak-based party to carry out his political agendas in Sabah.

Sabah STAR and its leaders seemed not interested in attacking the unpopular policies of BN and its component party members but were only engrossed in attacking fellow opposition parties and its leaders because they are losing out their membership numbers to the other opposition groups, he said in a statement.

“Edward should also be the one to check his facts about STAR’s proposal to move the state capital from Kota Kinabalu to Keningau which was clearly explained by Dr Jeffrey if Sabah STAR should form the next state government.

“There has been no clarification by any leaders from Sabah STAR with regards to any form of misreporting by the local papers over this particular issue. Only now when the people react to this proposal as being the most ridiculous proposal did Edward come out with an explanation labeling it as kind of misreporting.

“We again reiterate our claim that indeed Sabah STAR Papar has been crippled when its entire divisional committee comprising 15 members resigned en bloc on December 28, 2012 to join APS.

“We have their Statutory Declarations jointly signed and attested by a Justice of Peace. For the record, let me remind Edward that APS cannot and will not stop anyone of its members or supporters from leaving APS to join another party either in the opposition or otherwise and we will not stoop too low and attack the parties that would accept this people, if any.

“Likewise, STAR should not be attacking APS and discredit its leaders just because some of their members start abandoning their party to join APS or other opposition group. It is our hope and objective whereby all opposition parties team up together to form a formidable front in facing the massive BN machinery in the coming general election,” he stressed.

APS, Denis added, would be willing to discuss and seek a conducive solution on seat allocation if the other parties who are not yet in the PR coalition can sit together with us and discuss on forming a united opposition front among the Sabah-based parties.