Sabah Muslims seek ‘relevance’ through Usno

Local Muslims are seeking to revive the United Sabah National Organisation (Usno) which was deregistered in 1993 purportedly to prevent it from being a threat to Umno Sabah.

The Registrar of Societies (ROS) used a complaint – that 12 delegates were allegedly not members of the party – as an excuse to de-register the party.

Pro tem president of Usno 2006, Perais Sharif Baba, is making a fresh attempt to re-register the party on the grounds that it’s not a banned movement. An application to re-register it has been pending since July 2008 when the first attempt was rejected by the ROS without any reasons whatsoever.

“We do not see any reason why the party cannot be revived to continue its struggle and safeguard the interest of Sabahans,” said Perais here yesterday. “This is the second attempt after an earlier one in 2006 was rejected in July 2008. We have been awaiting the outcome for two years without any news.”

Apparently, all their appeals to ROS in Putrajaya have been met with studied silence. They suspect that Umno Sabah has been lobbying to prevent the re-registration of Usno. This belief stems from the fact that 95% of former Usno members, some 100,000-odd, are now with Umno Sabah.

Perais pointed out that there was no reason for the ROS to reject the application to re-register Usno when even a banned organisation, Umno, was allowed to re-register itself as Umno Baru. Subsequently, the party was even allowed to call itself by the old name of Umno, he added.

The party is unhappy that three parties which applied much later than Usno – Parti Makkal Sakthi Malaysia, Parti Cinta Malaysia and Parti Sosialis Malaysia – were approved by the ROS while its attempt was rejected without any reasons whatsoever.

Given the run around

The party deplored the fact that although its application was made in 2006, the reply from the ROS only came in July 2008, that is, several months after the 12th general election ended on March 8, 2008. The party, it noted, is being given the run around again with its second attempt.

“We met then Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar with our appeal after our first application was rejected,” said Perais. “Subsequently, Hamid was dropped from the cabinet. We met with his successor Hishamuddin Tun Hussein on April 23, this year.”

Earlier, before the 12th general election, Usno leaders met with the then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. He was non-committal but the rejection note came in July 2008.

Perais said the party has requested Umno Sabah veteran Karim Ghani, formerly with Usno, to advise them on how to get their application to re-register their party approved.

Karim, said Perais, was among those who brought Umno to Sabah to help bring down the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) government.

Karim confirmed that he had been approached by the Usno leaders who are unhappy with their “marginalisation and being sidelined by Umno”. This is a euphemism for the disenfranchisement of local Muslims, given the continuing influx of illegal immigrants getting on the electoral rolls with MyKads issued by the back door.

“Based on a state-wide survey, the majority of Usno leaders are unhappy with being marginalised and sidelined (by Umno Sabah),” said Karim. “They want Usno revived to carry on with their political struggle.”

He predicted that the chances of Usno being revived was almost zero “given the current political landscape in the country”. He could not hazard a guess what Usno leaders could do if their latest attempt to re-register the party fails.

'They can do whatever they want'

Usno leaders, said Karim, would have to meet and discuss among themselves when they cross the bridge.

Karim would not be surprised if Usno leaders and their followers join Pakatan Rakyat en bloc through PKR. He declined to state his personal stand on the matter.

Karim was seen with de facto PKR chief Anwar Ibrahim in Kota Kinabalu on Aug 29. The speculation is that he discussed with Anwar the possibility of setting up a Local Muslims Task Force within Sabah PKR.

Usno was among those parties which led Sabah to independence on Aug 31, 1963. The party also went along with the formation of Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963.

The party was founded by Mustapha Harun, the Suluk chief, who became the third chief minister after the party won the 1967 state election. Usno lost power in 1976 when Berjaya won the state election that year.

Usno made way for the entry of Umno after the 1990 general election which saw PBS pulling out from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Karim was sacked by Usno in 1987 for attempting to bring Umno to Sabah.

Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman was non-committal when asked by the local media on Thursday about reported attempts being made by Usno to revive itself.

“They can do whatever they want,” said Musa. “Sabah now has Umno as the leading component party in BN to look after the welfare and interests of the people.”

courtesy of FMT