Fear now in Najib's heart as Sabah BN break up begins with Wilfrid & Lajim

It looks like Sabah leaders Wilfrid Bumburing and Lajim Ukin have finally decided to break away from the vicious political cycle that the Umno-BN has become after 5 decades of political hegemony and unchecked power.

Sabah, along with Sarawak, have been among the most marginalized states with the federal government giving tacit agreement to the scores of BN leaders who have so far led the two East Malaysian states, plundering from its massive natural resources and enriching themselves so long as they also benefited their colleagues in the peninsula.

Wilfrid, the UPKO deputy president and Tuaran MP, threw in his resignation letter on Monday, quitting as the BN chief for the area. He is due to make an "important announcement on Sunday. Lajim, the Beaufort MP, is expected to follow suit.

"I have hereby effective today, July 23, 2012, resigned from the post as Barisan Nasional chairman for P170, Tuaran. My resignation will enable the new BN leadership of Tuaran to make preparation for the coming 13th general election," said Bumburing in his resignation letter.

Independent Pakatan-friendly bloc

The news, which has been anticipated for months now, nevertheless sent shock waves across the political divide both in East and West Malaysia. Both men are senior Sabah leaders, who have been elected representatives through the years.

They are expected to form an independent Pakatan Rakyat-friendly bloc rather than straightaway join the Pakatan parties of PKR, DAP and PAS.

"Wilfrid will lead and rally together a group of pro-Pakatan Sabahans. Many of these will be MPs and ADUNs. When the time is right, they will make the necessary announcements. Pakatan's role will be to help this group contest in GE-13 and to negotiate with other forces such as SAPP to reach one-to-one fights," PKR vice president Tian Chua, the chief negotiator behind the agreement, told Malaysia Chronicle.

Exodus begins in earnest: Sarawak the next focus!

Not only will the latest news strike a chill in the hearts of BN leaders, especially Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has tried hard to block Wilfrid's departure as it is bound to trigger an exodus out of his coalition into the Pakatan led by arch rival Anwar Ibrahim.

The last speculation in June that 6 Sabah leaders would be defecting to Anwar's PKR party had fizzled out after Najib's minders leaked news to the press that BN MPs would receive an additional RM1.5 million each after the Budget 2013 was presented on September 28.

Nazri Aziz, the Minister in PM's Department, has also indicated that GE-13 may be held only in 2013 when the BN's 5-year mandate ends in April in a further bid to cool the desire to leave BN.

However, that no longer appears to be enough to deter Bumburing and other like-minded leaders, who appear to have grown weary of Umno's brand of politicking that relies on race-championing and religious bigotry. Many are also shocked at the amount of corruption at the expense of the ordinary folk but due to Umno's grip on power the past 5 decades have not been able to do much or risk being left completely out in the cold.

"We are glad to see the winds of change finally blowing through Sabah. This is a courageous act and hopefully it will inspire other BN leaders to follow. Many realize that BN has become a bad brand name. These are the things we warned about 3 years ago and they are coming true because Umno has not been able to change and Najib is just too weak to make his party undertake painful reforms," said Tian.

Tian added that Pakatan would next focus on Sarawak, where controversial chief minister Taib Mahmud has ruled with a hand of iron for decades despite the mountain of corruptipon allegations against him.

Exodus and BN break up also seen in the peninsula

The PKR MP for Batu also warned that this was not only the start of an exodus out of Sabah BN but predicts it will take place in the peninsula too.

"Everyone is waiting for the right timing. BN has become toxic and there are many leaders in MCA, MIC, Gerakan and Umno itself all waiting to be finally free from its shackles," predicted Tian.

"I am not sure if GE-13 will be in September this year or early next year but the end for BN is very clear. What the people want is very obvious, so there is no need to fear leaving BN. In fact, if the leaders continued to stick with Umno, their constituents will be the first to vote them out."

Certainly, GE-13 will be the most hotly contested ballot ever, with 222 seats in the federal Parliament and 505 seats in the state assembly up for grabs. Already, pundits have called it the Mother of all Dirty Elections although the Election Commission has insisted that it will be a clean fight.

However, given the huge documentary evidence of electoral fraud uncovered by Pakatan leaders over the past months such as name-rigging, vote buying and phantom voters, few Malaysians have any doubt that Umno-BN will do its best to cheat to cling to power. It is telling that the EC chairman ad his deputy are both unabashedly Umno leaders.

Wait and see!

In the 2008 general election, Bumburing polled 17,645 votes to retain the Tuaran seat for BN with a 6,622-vote majority against his nearest rival Ansari Abdullah of PKR, who garnered 11,023 votes. Independent candidate, Ajin Hazin Gagah, lost his deposit when he only managed 879 votes.

As for the 57-year-old Lajim, who is the Beaufort MP, he too has tendered his resignation as Kerambai Kebatu Umno branch chief, saying he would not seek re-election as the Beaufort Umno division chief.

Lajim met PAS spiritual adviser and Kelantan MB Nik Aziz Nik Mat on Monday at the latter's office in Kota Bharu but the meeting is likely to be a courtesy call rather than him joining the party as speculated.

"Letter of resignation as chief branch Umno has been sent to the secretary of Umno Beaufort a few days ago. The first step is not to defend the division chief post and the second is to quit as the Umno branch chief and the third step - wait and see," Lajim was quoted as saying by news portal New Sabah Times on Monday.

Malaysia Chronicle