YOU'RE WRONG JEFFREY - Rahman Dahlan rushes to deny Umno not wanted in Sabah

KUALA LUMPUR – Sabah Barisan Nasional secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan has issued a stinging rebuke to State Reform Party (Star) Sabah chairman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan on his statement that UMNO was unwanted in the state.

In an 11-point rebuttal posted on his Facebook page, Rahman said that any political party had the right to offer representation as long as their presence was in accordance with the law.

“No Sabahan, especially the Muslim bumiputeras are forced to support UMNO.

Nobody is putting a gun to the heads of Sabahans to join the party,” said the Kota Belud MP.

“The fact is that the UMNO members joined the party on their own accord because they feel it is the right platform for their struggles,” he said, adding there were 500000 UMNO members in the state of which 20 per cent were non-Muslim bumiputeras.

Rahman also said that UMNO's presence in the state had led to better political stability and less politicking, resulting in the state's vibrant economic development.

The Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government minister also said that UMNO's presence in Sabah meant the people of Sabah had a huge say in who becomes UMNO president and subsequently the Prime Minister.

“Before this, Sabahans had to accept the choice of Malays in West Malaysia. As the state with the second biggest UMNO bloc in the country, the needs and wants of Sabahans cannot be ignored by any UMNO presidential aspirant.”

Jeffrey Kitingan

Rahman also questioned the irony in Jeffrey labeling UMNO as an outside party when he contested under the STAR banner which is from Sarawak.

“Jeffery does not need to worry, if UMNO is irrelevant, the people of Sabah will reject the party.”

Rahman said UMNO is in Sabah because Sabahans want UMNO and they accepted the party with open arms.

Rahman ended his rebuke by reminding Jeffery of the irony of his statement when he himself had applied to become an UMNO member in the Keningau division in the past.

Yesterday, Jeffery, the assemblyman for Bingkor, released a statement saying UMNO was not wanted in Sabah because its race and religion politics was not suitable for Sabah. - NST