James Ratib: I left Upko for the sake of the people, development of Sabah

Sugut state assemblyperson man James Ratib (on right in photo, above) has stressed that his decision to leave the United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (Upko) was to safeguard the interests of Sabahans, who still needed the support of the federal government to further develop.

Claims that he had left the party due to personal interests were untrue and baseless, James said in Kota Kinabalu last night.

"Currently, the state government led by Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) is no longer aligned with the federal government, making it difficult for Sabahans to benefit from development projects from the federal government.

"It is, therefore, imperative for me and Kuala Penyu assemblyperson Limus Jury (on left in picture, above) to leave Upko and support Perikatan Nasional (PN) for the benefit of the people," he said, adding that he believed the PN government led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin could bring about a change in the political landscape of the country as well as Sabah.

James was responding to claims by Parti Warisan Sabah information chief Yusof Yacob that he and Limus had the left their party for personal gain and stood to benefit from federal government projects.

- Bernama