'Don't blame BN, it was Shafie who neglected Sabah when he was minister'

KIMANIS POLLS | Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri said BN shouldn't be blamed for the apparent lack of rural development in Sabah and instead pointed the finger at Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal.

Speaking at a ceramah in Kimanis tonight, Ismail said Shafie (above) had billions of ringgit at his disposal when he was the rural and regional development minister from 2009 to 2015.

"He claimed BN did not take care of Sabahans... At that time, he had billions of ringgit in his hand, it was he who did not take care of Sabahans.

"If Sabah's rural areas are not developed, it is not BN's fault. It was Shafie's who was at the time the rural and regional development minister and now the Sabah chief minister," he said.

Ismail, who succeeded Shafie as a rural and regional development minister in 2015, said Shafie did not take issue with BN's treatment of Sabah when he was part of the coalition.

Shafie (photo) was dismissed in 2015 after he questioned then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's 1MDB scandal.

Shafie went on to form Warisan and led the new party to power in Sabah. He also formed an alliance with Pakatan Harapan and his party became part of the federal government after BN was defeated in the last general election.

Ismail continuously hammered Shafie, claiming that he had put more emphasis on his own constituency of Semporna instead of the rest of Sabah. He also accused Shafie of cronyism.

The BN ceramah tonight was in conjunction with the Kimanis by-election.

The campaign officially began on Saturday and voters will go to the polls on Jan 18.

The by-election was called after the Election Court voided the Kimanis election results on grounds that Election Commission (EC) failed to comply with election procedures.

Umno's Anifah Aman had won Kimanis with a razor-thin 156-vote majority in the last general election. He garnered 11,942 votes to Warisan's Karim Buang's 11,786 votes.

A third party, Harapan Rakyat's Jaafar Ismail, received 1,300 votes.

Anifah, who had since quit Umno to become an independent, decided to sit out the current by-election.

Umno is represented by Mohamad Alamin in this by-election while Karim is again representing Warisan. - Mkini