KOTA BELUD: A porposal has been made for the establishment of a permanent secretariat to sustain the joint political initiative by PBS, UPKO and PBRS such as Operasi Tataba, including promoting cooperation to address the issues faced by the Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) community.
The Komulakan chief of UPKO, Ewon Benedick who made the proposal, is of the opinion that merger is not necessarily the only option to strengthen the community.
“We all agreed that unity is a must. There were great efforts being done before to unite all KDM-based parties but it did not materialise.
“Perhaps, a permanent secretariat can be set up so that young leaders of these parties would be able to understand each other better, value unity as the utmost need and work together to achieve aspiration of the community,” he said.
According to Ewon, the Operasi Tataba which was launched in March is the best harvest for the community to celebrate and appreciate for in the Kaamatan season this year.
“Kaamatan does not necessarily celebrate how many tonnes of paddy we harvested or how successful are we in our field of choice, but also to how much we appreciate the morale, spirit and wisdom of what are promoting,” said Ewon.
“As a political organisation, we brought this spirit of cooperation and unity in the just concluded election. Having actively involved myself in the process, I know there is much room for improvement. We still have a long way to reach a more pragmatic, dynamic and solid unity for the KDM, what more for Sabah. Therefore, we can further strengthen the effort through establishment of a formal and permanent secretariat,” he said when officiating the Kaamatan celebration at Kampung Rangalau, Kota Belud yesterday.
Ewon who is also the deputy chief of UPKO Kota Belud, also opined that the KDM community must first unite before thinking of a single national political party such as being proposed by Gerakan.
“We are the largest ethnic in Sabah, but at the national context, we are a minority group. If the majority opt for a single party, then we will be further sidelined if we are unable to find a solution for unity among our people,” said Ewon.
“Let us again learn through our mistake. The arithmetic showed us that it is impossible for KDM to be how it was before as proven in GE13. We cannot afford to be on the opposition bench because we still have a lot of issues that need to be resolved and for that, we must be part of the government,” he further said.
Ewon urged the people in Kampun Rangalau to strengthen their unity and together play important role to develop their kampong so that they can have another meaningful Kaamatan next year.