KOTA KINABALU: A host of apologists are coming to the defence of former Sabah chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan following a spate of criticism that culminated this week with a broadside from a Sabah Umno member.
The former chief minister, who is now deputy to Chief Minister Musa Aman of Umno, drew flak because his Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) initially downplayed criticism by former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that Pairin was responsible for the slowness of Sabah’s economic development.
Mahathir makes the accusation in his recently published memoir, rubbing salt in the wound that PBS suffered with its overthrow by the Umno-led BN in 1994.
However, PBS’s recent attempt at a more rigorous defence against Mahathir’s allegation has stirred up accusations that the party was unfairly criticising Mahathir, who accepted PBS back into BN in 1990.
Clarence Bongkos Malakun, the former managing director of Sabah Forest Industry (SFI), is the latest public figure to come to Pairin’s defence.
Now the deputy president of the Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association (KDCA), Malakun said Umno member and Pantai Manis assemblyman Abdul Rahim Ismail had insulted the whole Kadazandusun community when he described Pairin as “up to this day not national political material”.
Pairin is KDCA President and Huguan Siou (supreme leader) of the Kadazandusuns.
Malakun said that Rahim, by openly insulting the Huguan Siou, had belittled his Kadazandusun voters in Pantai Manis and Papar.
He asked: “If Pairin is not of national political material, then how about the rest of the Sabah leaders who are serving in the Federal Cabinet, like Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili?
“Are they too regarded as inferior and not up to the mark and Rahim’s expectation?”
He reminded Rahim that Pairin is one of the longest serving Members of Parliament in Malaysia today.
“If Pairin is not of national political material, then he would not have lasted so long.”
Rahim a pawn
Malakun, currently the chairman of Sabah’s Institute for Development Studies (IDS), also expressed puzzlement over Rahim’s claim that the PBS government inherited RM2.5 billion in reserves from the Berjaya government.
“I do not know where Rahim got the figure,” he said.
Rahim claimed this was the amount that former chief minister Harris Salleh’s Berjaya government had accumulated in the government coffers and which PBS spent under Pairin.
He added that PBS had left a deficit of RM2.5 billion, bringing the total purportedly squandered to RM5 billion.
“The figure quoted by Rahim is surely just a figment of his imagination,” Malakun said. “He must know that the minister of finance during PBS’s time was Tan Sri Bernard Dompok and his assistant was Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee.
“No one has ever accused Pairin of having exhausted the state’s reserves to the amount stated by Rahim.
“It would have been impossible for any chief minister to squander so much money without having to pass the necessary supplementary supply bills in the state assembly.”
He accused Rahim of trying to create conflict amongst the BN parties in order to undermine the state leadership.
“Perhaps Rahim is not alone but is merely the pawn of certain quarters with their own agenda,” he said.
Mahathir’s dirty tactics
Malakun also said he was considering legal action against Rahim for saying that PBS leaders had used SFI to enrich themselves.
Jeffrey Kitingan has also been forced to come out in defence of his elder brother following Mahathir’s revelations.
On Wednesday, local activist and Common Interest Group Malaysia (Cigma) leader Daniel John Jambun also lashed out at Rahim, saying he had conveniently forgotten how PBS had been put under the cosh by Mahathir and the federal government, leaving the party powerless.
He said Rahim’s praise for Mahathir could be taken as condoning his “dirty tactics” in subjugating Sabah “because it was seen as a Christian-led government and had to be brought down at all costs”.
He said Mahathir had shown that he hated the democratically elected PBS government from the time it took charge in 1985. - FMT
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