YONG'S STATEMENT INSULTING SABAHAN?

By : LESAYA LOPOG SORUDIM

IN RESPONSE to Yong Teck Lee on DE "Lajim, Bumburing have no choice but to kow tow, says Yong."

Yong Teck Lee's statement is tantamount to accusing Datuk Seri Panglima Lajim Hj. Ukin and Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred M. Bumburing of bribery when he said that Lajim and Bumburing are bringing goodies from Sabah to Kuala Lumpur in order to be chosen as candidates.

Yong's statement is an insult not just to Bumburing and Lajim but to the people of Sabah the majority ofwhom are now coming together in support of these two leaders. It is indeed an insult especially to the KDM community who now looked up to these two leaders as their flag bearer in carrying out their struggle further.

Could anyone in their right frame of mind ever imagine Bumburing and Lajim disembarking from an airplane in KLIA armed with a bucket load of tiger prawns or lobster or even a bundle of bird nest in their armpit purportedly to be given to some leaders in Kuala Lumpur in order to be chosen as candidates?

Can anyone ever imagine SAPP who we gaining much popularity respect when it first left BN and are now resorting to such low-level political mindset?

Speaking of Bumburing, let me remind Yong Teck Lee that if ever it was the desire of Datuk Wilfred Bumburing that he only wants to be a candidate, it would have been better for him to remain in BN as being the Deputy President of a BN component then, he had every opportunity to make himself as one of the BN candidate, after all being an incumbent, he is the best person to retain the Tuaran parliamentary seat for BN.

Let me also remind Yong Teck Lee that for several times in many his speeches heard by several thousand people, Bumburing had often said that if he could help put in place a new government to replace BN without having to be the candidate, he would be the happiest man on earth.

Yong's statement and accusation only goes to show how politically short-sighted SAPP are and how they are deprived on any issues to portray themsleves as an alternative to BN.

Instead of attacking BN and UMNO, SAPP surprisingly chose to attack fellow Sabahan opposition leaders. This only goes to prove that SAPP's ultimate aim and objective is to gain political power for themselves. This also goes to show that they are no longer interested in any form of electoral understanding and pact with other opposition groupings in Sabah in the coming GE13.

Along this lines, I would like to remind Yong Teck Lee that he have a lot of explaining to do on what he did when during his tenure as Chief Minister of Sabah, several hundred thousand acres of forest lands were designated as FMU (Forest Management Unit) and were signed off to several companies, little realising the implications resulting from this policy where several hundred families from the Native communities being trapped inside the FMU areas.

They are barred from cultivating the lands which they have resided for several generations, illegal for them to cut down trees to build houses and several other restriction which made their lives even more miserable and poorer.

Why was the interest of native populations who have been residing within the FMU-designated areas not given any consideration or provided with certain guarantees that under the so-called FMU their interest would be protected and guaranteed?

And mind you, this was done during Yong Teck Lee's time as Chief Minister. Indeed, Sabahan have now come to realise the truth in an old English saying, 'once bitten, twice shy"' when it comes to who our next Chief Minister should be.