Rahman Dahlan upset for not being consulted by Umno HQ - source

SABAH POLLS | Umno supreme council member Abdul Rahman Dahlan's outburst on Tuesday was the result of the failure of Umno's national leadership to conduct wider consultation on the Sabah state elections, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

According to the source, Umno's national leadership should have respected the autonomy given to Sabah Umno.

"Although the Sabah Umno leadership is given the autonomy, some matters need to be referred to the national headquarters.

"For instance, Sabah Umno's candidates' list must be forwarded to the national headquarters first. However, Rahman was not consulted," the source told Malaysiakini.

Rahman is a senior Umno figure and former cabinet minister. However, he has kept a low profile since he was voted out as an MP in 2018.

He held a late-night press conference in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, claiming that half of Umno's division leaders in Sabah opposed the party's decision to allow Bung Moktar Radin to lead the party's campaign and have the final say on the chief minister candidate.

Rahman argued that the move was "suicidal" given that Bung has an ongoing corruption trial to attend to and that the division leaders were not consulted.

Meanwhile, another source said Rahman had wished to lead the Sabah BN campaign but was upset when he was not given the job.

"Why now? Why not when Bung led the Kimanis by-election campaign? Perhaps he sees the opportunity now," he said.

The source said Rahman's actions had nothing to do with former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman, who tried to regain control of the government through defections in late July.

"Musa is no longer in the frontline for this by-election. (Rahman's outburst) has nothing to do with Musa, although they are known associates," he said. - Mkini