KOTA KINABALU – Umno members who defect are unprincipled and ungrateful for what the party has done for them, said the party’s Sabah chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin.
He said that the “traitors” were more interested in position and personal gain, which led them to turn away from the party’s struggles and sacrifice.
“Look at our friends who left – they were given positions when they were in Umno, but have gone off course and strayed from their principles.
“What hurts more is when they criticise the party that made them who they are today,” he said here today.
“Those who left Umno, we let them be. Those who are still loyal, we will take care of them and tell the others that Umno is back and here to stay,” he said in his message ahead of the party polls from March 11 onwards.
Bung Moktar, who looks to retain a seat on the Umno Supreme Council, also urged party members to remember the true struggles and sacrifice of leaders before them.
He said previous leaders brought about Malaya’s independence without any bloodshed in 1957.
“It’s a pity that today, selfless acts and sincerity about struggles and sacrifices are gone from Umno. They are just rhetoric.”
Umno’s Wanita, Puteri, and Youth conference will be held on March 11 and the divisional meetings will be held on March 18.
Umno recently saw the departure of three assemblymen – Datuk James Ratib (Sugut), Datuk Jasnih Daya (Pantai Dalit), and Arsad Bistari (Tampasuk) – while Datuk Shahelmey Yahya (Tg Keramat assemblyman and Putatan MP) joined the Sabah cabinet against the wishes of the state party leadership.
James, Jasnih, and Arsad will face Umno’s disciplinary board for not supporting Sabah Umno’s move to pull support from the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah coalition in January.
Shahelmey had said he would leave his fate to the Umno disciplinary board.
In 2018, Sabah Umno also experienced an exodus after Barisan Nasional failed to recapture the state in the 2018 general election.
The exodus of the Umno assemblymen in 2018 was led by Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor, who is now Sabah chief minister and president of fledgling Gagasan Rakyat after leaving Bersatu last November. – The Vibes, March 6, 2023
