The Umno stalwart courted controversy on multiple occasions through the years, including when he said ‘long live Hitler’ after Germany thrashed Brazil 7-1 in the 2014 World Cup.
The six-term Kinabatangan MP was chairman of the Sabah chapters of Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN).
His son Naim Kurniawan Moktar said in a Facebook post that Bung breathed his last at 1.46am.
He had previously said that his father was being treated at Gleneagles Hospital in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Bung’s exact illness is unclear for now although he received a kidney transplant in China in 2016.
A former deputy chief minister, Bung stirred controversy on multiple occasions through the years, including one instance in 2018 when he blurted out a vulgar remark in the Dewan Rakyat.
He also drew a reprimand from then prime minister Najib Razak in 2014 for saying “long live Hitler” following Germany’s 7-1 win against Brazil in the World Cup semi-final that year.
The former Felcra chairman was standing trial on charges of receiving RM2.8 million in bribes to secure Felcra’s approval to invest RM150 million in Public Mutual unit trusts.
His second wife, Zizie Izette Abdul Samad, was accused of abetting Bung in the commission of the alleged offences. The trial is ongoing.
Despite his controversies, Bung kept a strong hold on Kinabatangan, defending his parliamentary seat with a solid 4,330-vote majority in the 2022 general election.
First elected in 1999, Bung served as an MP under six different prime ministers: Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the late Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib, Muhyiddin Yassin, Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Anwar Ibrahim.
He led Sabah Umno in the 2020 state election as the party won 11 seats and formed the state government with Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), with GRS chairman Hajiji Noor as chief minister.
However, in January 2023, the deputy chief minister led Umno to withdraw support for Hajiji in a plot dubbed the Kinabalu Move, which was also said to involve Warisan.
The move failed as Pakatan Harapan threw its support behind Hajiji and several Sabah Umno assemblymen continued backing the chief minister.
Bung led the charge for Sabah BN again in the recent state polls although the coalition put up a dismal performance, winning just six seats despite contesting 45.
He defended his Lamag seat with a slim majority of just 153 votes. - FMT
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