Who are you fooling, Bung tells Bersatu’s Rubin

 

Sabah BN chief Bung Moktar Radin (left) claims Bersatu’s Rubin Balang accompanied his son, Riduan, when he was nominated as an independent candidate in Tenom.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Barisan Nasional chief Bung Moktar Radin has dismissed the denial by Bersatu’s Rubin Balang on being involved in his son’s clash with the BN candidate in Tenom.

Bung said Rubin had accompanied his son, Riduan, during nominations on Nov 5, when Riduan was accepted as an independent candidate for the Tenom parliamentary seat.

The Sabah deputy chief minister also claimed that Rubin was present when Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) president Peter Anthony received Riduan’s membership form.

He said that Rubin was “frequently’ appearing in Riduan’s programmes despite being a member of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), which has an election pact with BN and allows the coalition to contest in Tenom.

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“(Rubin’s) action of constantly accompanying the independent candidate (Riduan) would surely cause negative perceptions among GRS and BN supporters.

“Rubin is not only breaching the BN-GRS pact but he is also going against the advice of GRS chairman Hajiji Noor for all leaders to support BN and GRS candidates contesting in the general election,” Bung said in a statement.

He warned that no one would benefit by supporting an independent candidate, as they would be just like the opposition and would not get access to development funds.

Yesterday, Rubin denied that he was involved in any way with Riduan’s decision to join KDM, maintaining that his son decided to do so on his own accord.

The Kemabong assemblyman also clarified that he was at the KDM headquarters recently as the party wanted to know if he objected to his son’s decision to join KDM.

Rubin, who is the Tenom Bersatu chief, said he told KDM he had no authority to object to his son’s decision since Riduan was no longer a Bersatu member after quitting the party several days before nominations.

Riduan was the Bersatu youth chief in Tenom, prior to his resignation from the party.

Riduan is in a five-cornered contest for Tenom with BN’s Jamawi Ja’afar, Noorita Sual of Pakatan Harapan, Ukim Buandi (Warisan) and another independent candidate, Peggy Chaw.

Bung had urged Hajiji to take action against Rubin, for breaching the electoral pact between BN and GRS. Bung also claimed that Rubin was behind his son’s entry into KDM.

In response, Hajiji said he would investigate the matter first.

KDM is a pro-GRS party. Under the BN-GRS political pact, the Tenom seat is to be contested by BN.

In the 2018 general election (GE14), DAP’s Noorita defeated Rubin, who then ran on a BN ticket, by a majority of 1,133 votes. - FMT