Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili
KOTA KINABALU: The leadership of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) does not want the party to be seen as a party of old people.
This is why PBS has taken steps to organise a three-day training stint for children of its party members, where they get to study about nation building, the Constitution, the political system, about Barisan Nasional (BN) and PBS, as well as the party’s goals and constitution, said PBS acting president, Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili, during the PBS Media Lunch 2017 yesterday.
He said the party has some 130,000 members all over Sabah.
“Renewal of leadership is important. We don’t want the party to be seen as a party of old people,” he told press members.
He also said that unless a party renews its leadership, it runs the risk of being obsolete.
“We are investing a lot of time on this (in renewing our leadership),” he said.
So far, we have already trained about 200 people and about a third of those trained have the capacity to be groomed further.
Maximus reminded that PBS was unique because it is a multiracial and multicultural party.
“It is stronger than parties with a single race ideology…that is our character which attributes unity in diversity,” he said.
He also said that PBS is the oldest party in Sabah at 32 years of age.
At the same time, he also said that they don’t want wild hypothesis that with the founding leader and president, Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, no longer leading the party, there will be no more PBS.