KOTA KINABALU – Sabah Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) deputy chief Datuk Masidi Manjun has rubbished an Umno leader's claim that Bersatu had placed independent candidates to contest against Umno in the last Sabah state election.
Masidi said that the person making the claim, Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi did not represent Umno, and that what he said was merely his personal views.
“I assume that it was his (Mohd Puad) personal opinion, because he is not the official spokesperson for the party.
“I have not read an official statement from the party on it,” he said when asked to comment on Mohd Puad’s statement during the daily Covid-19 live update today.
Yesterday, Mohd Puad told The Malaysian Insight that Umno was going to leave Perikatan Nasional because the party was unhappy with Bersatu for several reasons, including for what Bersatu had done during the last state election.
He said that Bersatu sponsored independent candidates as proxies to contest against Umno’s candidates.
Masidi said that Mohd Puad was free to make such statements as it was a democratic country.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if they are speculating; whether (what they say) really happened, that is another issue,” he said.
The state election last year saw three independent candidates winning seats, including Datuk Seri Rudy Awah (Pitas), Datuk Rubin Balang (Kemabong) and Datuk Masiung Banah (Kuamut).
Meanwhile, commenting on Sebatik’s assemblyman Hassan A. Gani Pg Amir leaving Warisan to pledge support to Gabungan Rakyat Sabah yesterday, Masidi said Hassan was free to choose his political path and wished him luck.
“I don’t want to judge his decision because it is entirely at his discretion.
“I also cannot speculate if more are going to leave the opposition to support GRS, because this is politics.
“It is an unusual profession. We never know what is going to happen next,” he said. – The Vibes, February 26, 2021
