KOTA KINABALU - DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang says Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin should be sacked over his reported stance against any action on Sabah’s migrant woes in the event a political ally loses in the upcoming Sabah state polls.
Hamzah, who is Perikatan Nasional (PN) secretary-general, allegedly said that he will not take action in dealing with the migrant problem if PBS’ Datuk Joniston Bangkuai fails to defend the Kiulu state seat in the election on Sept 26.
Bangkuai faces six contenders but his toughest rival is likely Upko president Wilfred Madius Tangau.
The former newsman, who is also PBS information chief, did not respond to The Vibes when contacted on the matter.
“Hamzah should be fired as home affairs minister if truly he issued the threat,” Lim said in a statement last night.
“To be fair to him, he should come forward and explain himself. But the biggest question is whether Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin dares to fire him as minister.
“Muhyiddin will lose his premiership if he really fires Hamzah. This shows how weak Muhyiddin is as prime minister,” Lim added in a statement last night.
The presence of illegal immigrants is one of the long-standing unresolved issues in Sabah where it is estimated that there are now over 900,000 of them.
Lim claimed that it was obvious Hamzah was abusing his power as the minister.
He alleged that the PPBM leader had also used his position to order PBS to withdraw a couple of their candidates to give more prominence to Sabah Star which is a PN component.
Sabah Star and PBS initially clashed in six state seats - Moyog, Panginatan, Liawan, Tulid, Bingkor and Tambunan - before PBS ordered its candidates in Bingkor and Tambunan to withdraw after Hamzah helped to negotiate a reduction in seat clashes.
Sabah Star had won the two seats in the last general election in 2018.
In return, Sabah Star chief Datuk Jeffrey Kitingan ordered two independent candidates understood to be the party’s proxies, Marcel Jude and Akian Ah Kiew, to respectively withdraw from races for the Api-Api and Bengkoka seats.
However, Kitingan has publicly denied involvement with the two men. - TheVibes, September 22, 2020
Sack home minister Hamzah over Sabah migrant matter, says Kit Siang
DAP veteran asks Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin to explain his alleged ‘threat’ not to take action on illegal migrant woes if voters do not retain his ally in the state election
Updated 5 years ago · Published on 23 Sep 2020 6:57AM
