Sabah Umno rubbishes reports of crossovers to Warisan

Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin (seated fifth from left) with party officials and supporters at the Umno command centre in Kimanis.

KIMANIS: Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin has rubbished reports that hundreds of its members had crossed over to Warisan since the by-election campaign started on Jan 4.

The Kinabatangan MP said Umno had just cleaned up its membership roll and that those who joined Warisan had already been declared as non-members.

“Those who claimed they were crossing over from Umno are already either Warisan or Sabah PPBM members,” he told a press conference at the Barisan Nasional command centre at Kimanis Centro tonight.

Reports had said Warisan had welcomed hundreds of former Umno members over the past 10 days. Today alone, Warisan claimed 11 Umno branches in Kampung Binsulok had closed down and 600 members had joined the party

Bung Moktar denied the claim, saying that none of the Umno branches had closed down.

“We have 235 branches and all of them are intact. What Warisan is claiming is just drama and acting,” he said.

Sabah Umno suffered a blow in December 2017 when many of its top leaders abandoned the party and later formed Sabah PPBM.

Bung Moktar’s tasks as Sabah Umno chief included rebuilding the state chapter and cleaning up its membership roll.

Sabah Umno currently has over 500,000 members – the largest in any state – despite losing about 30% of its members after the exodus. - FMT