Bung-Musa meeting sets tongues wagging in Sabah

 

Sabah BN leaders, led by Bung Moktar Radin (in white) with former chief minister Musa Aman (centre) at his home on Friday. (Facebook pic)

KOTA KINABALU: A recent meeting between former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman and state Barisan Nasional chief Bung Moktar Radin and his Umno team has set tongues wagging in the state.

Speculation that the Sabah Umno strongman is coming back to the forefront of Sabah politics is being widely talked about among political circles and in social media.

A photo of the meeting posted on Bung’s Facebook account last Friday has already garnered more than 3,000 likes, over 300 comments and 135 shares.

Besides Bung, others in the photo were Sabah Umno deputy chief Yakub Khan, state Umno secretary Jafry Ariffin and Usukan assemblyman Salleh Said Keruak.

This has led to speculation over whether a new political game may be in the offing in the state ahead of the 15th general election.

However, Bung told FMT that the meeting was just a courtesy call on Musa, as they have not met since the Sabah elections in September 2020.

“It was just a normal visit, nothing extraordinary. He is a former state leader so it’s not good if we don’t go and see him,” he said.

The deputy chief minister laughed when told that the photo he shared had gone viral.

A contact in Musa’s camp also said it was just a normal courtesy call and that “they wanted to meet Tan Sri (Musa) to catch up. So he met them. No need to speculate or get overly excited”.

Musa is Sabah’s longest-serving chief minister, having held the post for 15 years from 2003 to 2018. He was also the Sungai Sibuga assemblyman for six consecutive terms.

Two years after losing power, several assembly members switched allegiance to Musa’s camp, forcing the collapse of the Warisan-led state government, which requested that the state assembly be dissolved.

A snap election was held in September that year, but to the surprise of many observers, Musa was not fielded as a candidate after hinting at a contest for the Sungai Manila seat.

Musa has kept a low profile in public since then. However many view his meeting with Bung and other Umno leaders as a move to strengthen the state chapter, especially at a time when Bersatu was losing its grip nationally.

This is especially after Bung said Sabah Umno will need to get party president Ahmad Zahidi Hamidi’s view on whether the party should work with GRS at the next general election.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah senior lecturer Lee Kuok Tiung said the photo of the meeting had whetted the appetite of political observers, particularly on the cooperation between the Bersatu-led GRS and Umno in GE15.

He personally saw it as Sabah Umno, under Bung, closing ranks and ironing out so-called differences with Musa that they might have had previously. - FMT