Pairin: Why back Anwar, since he blocked RCI?

SABAH PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's past deeds in Sabah may soon catch up with him, with state BN leaders going around revealing that Anwar in the 1990s was their biggest stumbling block in the bid to solve the illegal immigration problem.

"It is true. He blocked our request for a royal commission of inquiry (into illegal immigration in Sabah). He was the one who rejected it.

"He cannot be trusted and it is for this reason that we cannot accept Pakatan Rakyat in Sabah, especially Anwar Ibrahim," the BN candidate for Keningau, Joseph Pairin Kitingan, said at a rally in Penampang, close to downtown Kota Kinabalu, last night.

On the contrary, Pairin said, it was BN chief and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who made way for the ongoing RCI to be formed.

"So, we have no other choice in this election but to support Najib," said Pairin, who is also the Huguan Siou (paramount leader) of the Kadazandusun Murut community.

Pairin, the founding president of the PBS who led his party away from the BN in 1990 and back to it in 2002. admitted that the Kadazandusun Murut community has had a chequered relationship with the BN.

"But the BN is changing and it will benefit us. The change is obvious ,if compared to when Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) was prime minister and he didn't even know the name of the Sabah chief minister," he said. 

'We suffered for voting opposition'

PBS, the oldest Kadazandusun Murut-based party, joined the BN in 1986, following the Sabah riots, but broke away on the eve of the 1990 state election, which it won.

It won the 1994 polls with a narrow margin, but failed to form the state government after to last minute defections of its members to Umno, a moved alleged to have been engineered by Anwar, who was then with Umno.

Pairin led his party back into the BN fold in 2002, four years after Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister.

Besides Anwar-bashing, other speakers at the ceramah also reminded the voters that the Kadazandusun Murut community has experienced how difficult life can be if they are represented by an opposition party.

"The elected representatives do not face hardship, for they receive their allowances. It is the people who suffer.

"Don't repeat the sad episode...our Huguan Siou today sees eye-to-eye with the prime minister and can ask for anything we want," said one speaker representing PBRS chief Joseph Kurup, who was not able to attend.

Upko's propaganda and strategy bureau chief Jeoffrey Ekol told the voters that "chopping and changing" would undermine Kadazandusun Murut "supremacy".

"We cannot just ‘chop and change' as we like as we will never achieve political maturity and the supremacy of the Kadazandusun Murut if we keep changing.

"Never allow the opposition to have an impact on Kadazandusun Murut political supremacy," Jeoffrey said.

Love for Najib, but no backing on 'Allah' ban

Najib received glowing praises throughout the event last night, attended by some 2,000 people who were mostly members of Upko, PBRS, PBS and Umno.

Despite the many empty chairs, and some leaving even when Pairin was speaking, the crowd was mostly spirited, with chants of 'Tatap BN' reverberating in the Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA) hall that was officiated 47 years ago yesterday.

The event began with a Christian prayer in Bahasa Malaysia, which is the lingua franca for the many different ethnic tribes that call Sabah home.

Sabahan Christians who worship in the Malay language use the word Allah, which is also used by Muslims to refer to God. The use of All for God by Christians is banned in Peninsular Malaysia.

Upko president Bernard Dompok and BN'sPenampangcandidate is the BN's most vocal critic of the ban, which Najib supports.

Speaking toMalaysiakinilater, Dompok condemned the seizure of copies of the Bible in the Iban language, which use the word Allah, from the Sibu prison.

"It is wrong. The government should do something about it..

"In no uncertain terms, regardless of what happens in court (on the Home Ministry's appeal against the ban on the use of 'Allah' by non-Muslims), the Christians and Sikhs of this country will continue to use the word.

"I will support their right to use a word they deem right for worship," said the veteran politician who is facing first-time candidat Ignatius Dorell Leiking of PKR for the Penampang seat.