TROUBLE IN THE HOUSE OF UMNO SABAH – THE EXODUS BEGINS: ‘I AM FED UP OF THOSE CAMPAIGNING AGAINST ME FROM WITHIN’ – SEPANGGAR’S JUMAT DENIES INSTIGATING 7 HIGH-PROFILE DEFECTIONS

KOTA KINABALU – Umno Sepanggar’s Jumat Idris has denied any involvement in the actions of seven committee members from his division who announced last night that they were joining Parti Warisan Sabah.

Rebuking those in Umno who had accused him of engineering the move, Jumat said he is fed up of the antics of those who had also openly campaigned against him from within the party.

“They have been discrediting me just to gain political points and promote themselves for party posts,” he said.

He refused to deny or confirm if he would similarly leave Umno to become an independent candidate or join other parties.

There was speculation about Jumat’s political future in 2015 after he was suspended from Umno for three years in 2015 for criticism of Chief Minister Musa Aman in a Facebook posting.

He said today that the seven Sepanggar Umno committee members who left the party and joined Warisan did so of their own accord. “Yet, there are those within the party who accused me of engineering the move,” he said.

The seven men, led by Azhar Matussin, alleged they were unhappy about the way Umno treated Jumat, who was the MP for Sepanggar in the previous Dewan Rakyat.

There was also a reported move for Abdul Rahman Dahlan take over in Sepanggar from Kota Belud, his former constituency.

“The seven made the decision to relinquish their party posts by themselves and it is their democratic right to do so, anyway. I am tired of these lies made against me.

“If you are sincere in serving the Sepanggar people, then do so quietly. There is no need to involve me,” he said. “Don’t talk bad about me and think you are doing good for the party.”

Jumat said he was visiting his constituents to thank them for their support these past five years.

Enticements

Abdul Rahman of Kota Belud branded the seven former Sepanggar Umno committee members as opportunists and selfish leaders. Those who left did so because of opportunities to become candidates or for being offered some other enticements.

“Leaders like these are only thinking for themselves and are not welcome in Umno,” said Rahman, who is Sabah BN secretary.

He was relieved that Jumat was not among those at the Warisan function in Kg Likas yesterday.

“I hope Jumat will continue to be with us,” he said.

Rahman also dismissed rumours that Jumat had been making demands in return for his loyalty to the party.

“Jumat is a man of integrity and would be too proud to make such demands. I don’t want to hear these kinds of speculation that Jumat is demanding this and that. I know there are no such demands,” he said.

Jumat refused to comment on the rumour saying that it is not worth a response.

Jumat has headed Sepanggar Umno since 2008. He won the parliamentary seat with a 9,442-vote majority in the 2013 general election with 22,845 votes against DAP’s Jeffrey Kumin who secured 13,403 votes.

Others who contested were SAPP’s Chong Hon Kiong (4,070 votes) and Daniel John Jambun of STAR (1,931).

The Sepanggar seat has about 62,000 voters of whom about 51% are Muslim Bumiputera, 26% Chinese and 21% non-Muslim Bumiputera.

– FMT