Tuaran BN vows to take back what was lost

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah BN shifted into high gear today with its division in Tuaran, about 40km from here, assembling in numbers for a show of strength and its leaders vowing to make a clean sweep of its parliamentary and three state seats in the 14th general election.

Tuaran BN chief Hajiji Noor underscored the importance of priming its election machinery, saying the polls could be held as early as in a month’s time.

“Let us not turn on each other but instead support our candidates. We must take on the opposition,” he said to the cheers of BN members from Umno, Upko, PBS, PBRS, LDP and MCA at the gathering.

In the last election, BN won the Tuaran parliamentary seat through Wilfred Madius Tangau of Upko and likewise won the state seat of Sulaman through Umno’s Hajiji and won the state seat of Kiulu by a whisker — just 44 votes — through debutant Joniston Bangkuai of PBS.

Upko president Wilfred Madius Tangau (third from left) being hugged by a former opposition party member who had signed up to join a Tuaran Barisan Nasional component party.

Its PBS candidate, Jahid Jahim, however, lost the race in Tamparuli to Wilfred Bumburing, who contested under a PKR ticket, before leaving and taking over Parti Cinta Sabah, which he now heads.

Tangau, who is Upko acting president, said Tuaran BN had learnt from the 2013 election.

“In the last election, there were BN members who supported the opposition, believing their lies that we were going to lose the polls.”

He said the sentiment among Tuaran BN members for this election was however different with a “feel-good feeling” with things like the selection of district polling centre chiefs based on consensus among the component parties.

Hajiji agreed, pointing out that the opposition had a penchant for making all sorts of “strange” promises, including setting up a state education ministry.

“The cost of running education facilities in Sabah alone is RM3 billion to RM4 billion a year. The state’s revenue is just over RM3 billion and the salaries for civil servants alone is at least RM700 million,” he said.

“We have seen how the opposition YBs work. They can only complain and blame others. Nothing gets done,” added Tangau.

He said through BN, the state would be getting the services of Musa Aman, who had proven himself to be an effective chief minister.

“We know his achievements and track record,” he added.

He said BN had a caring prime minister, who was concerned for the wellbeing of Sabahans.

“As a federal minister, I’ve met him to ask for funding to repair mosques and surau in Sulaman and the church parish hall in Tuaran, which he has approved without any hesitation,” Tangau said.

“The opposition, on the other hand, can only come up with a 92-year-old man as their designated prime minister,” he added.

He added that various studies had indicated that BN could win the polls by securing more than two-thirds of the 222 parliamentary seats in the country.

At the function, Hajiji also received several hundred applications from members of opposition parties to join the various BN components in the state. -FMT