Ongkili should have checked his facts

I refer to  a story titled “Upko’s tradition to leapfrog – Max” that appeared in the local print media on August 5, 2018). In it, PBS deputy president Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili was quoted as having said, inter alia, that “Upko is living up to its tradition which it started when its Assemblyman for Kiulu Datuk Payar Juman crossed to Usno soon after the first State election in 1967 that enabled the latter to form the government then.”

First of all, I would like to correct Ongkili. Juman’s crossing over did not result in the formation of the Usno (actually it was Alliance) government. By the time he crossed, Usno was already the government. Juman only crossed over a couple of months after the formation of the Usno government. Usno did not need Juman to form the government. It won 14 seats in that election compared to Upko’s 12. Sca which won a few seats decided to team up with Usno (they were already part of Alliance anyway) to form the government.

One would have thought that an educated man like Ongkili would have checked his facts before he opened his mouth. Or maybe now that he is suddenly in the Opposition he has memory problem ? An apology to the Juman family would be in order.

In a democracy, it was Juman’s rights to cross over. He did it for the sake of his constituents since by then Upko was already in the Opposition. The fact that a few other Upko Assemblymen followed suit showed that he was not alone in his decision. Juman must have been vindicated when Upko president Stephens dissolved the party (while Sundang was away overseas); calling on all Upko members to join Usno en bloc “for the sake of Bumiputra unity”. Juman was rewarded by being made a Minister. So what? Stephens’ reward was his posting as Malaysian High Commissioner to Australia and God knows what else he got.  Upon his return from Australia, he was made the TYT and became Tun Mustapha’s ‘Blood Brother’. By then, he had changed his name from Donald Stephens to Mohd Fuad. So why pick on Juman? At least Juman remained true to Usno in the 1976 election which it lost while Stephens ‘stabbed’ his blood brother in the back. Even their children’s engagement was annulled.

In any case, Dr Max, this was the old Upko which has nothing to do with the new Upko, not legally at least. How can there be any connection when when the original Upko was already dissolved and deregistered in late 1967? Stephens died in 1976, in case you forgot. Besides, the ‘new’ Upko’s predecessor was Parti Demokratik Sabah (PDS). Founder President Dompok got the ROS to agree to its name change to Upko much later. That’s all.

Next, Ongkili blamed Upko for ditching BN for Warisan a day after the May 9 election. Well, well, well, I think this is a case of the Kettle calling the Pot black. What he is saying is it is alright for Star to ditch Warisan (Jeffrey spoke to Shafie first, probably the conditions were not ‘ngam’) but not alright for Upko to  ditch BN ! This is just like criticising the bride who said No on her wedding day. Doesn’t the bride has a right? What kind of democracy is PBS practising? Only when it suits them?

Fine, Ongkili criticised Upko for ‘jumping’. But a day or two after Upko left BN, PBS followed suit, calling itself PBS Plus (together with Star and most if not all Umno YBs who were supposed to join them.) PBS proudly announced that even Musa (and presumably the rest of the Umno YBs too) would dump Umno and join PBS Plus. They have not done so. In fact, today Sabah Umno is being led by Musa’s trusted lieutenant, Hajiji.

In other words, what Ongkili is saying is that it was OK for PBS to leave BN but not OK for Upko to do so. Very democratic.

Ongkili also criticised former Upko president Dompok for dumping PBS in 1994 which he claimed led to the formation of the BN/Umno government. To refresh Ongkili’s memory, Pairin decided to resign after 3 PBS Assemblymen jumped following the party’s razor-thin victory over BN. His decision was also caused by the fact that the then TYT lodged a police report saying that he never signed the declaration to dissolve the Assembly as Pairin was holding a press conference to tell the whole world that fresh elections were to be held as the Assembly had been dissolved.

However, before Pairin announced his resignation, there was a meeting of all remaining PBS Assemblymen at Sri Gaya. During this meeting, it was agreed that a new party was to be formed to ‘save’ the KDM. Dompok was to lead this new party with Ongkili as secretary-general. This had Pairin’s blessings. Thus Dompok went ahead to register PDS but Ongkili had a change of heart and someone else became the Sec-Gen. He was probably influenced by Pairin who is well-known for his feeble-mindedness. I challenge Ongkili to deny this. Better still, swear on the Bible since he seems to be a devout Christian. So why now blame Dompok?

In the meantime, Kurup was probably not happy that he was not the one asked by Pairin to lead the new party and went ahead to register his own. His party, PBRS, was even registered ahead of PDS. How come? You have to ask Kurup. Kurup and Dompok have a ‘long’ history. The two were never in good terms ever since Dompok defeated Kurup as PBS deputy president. Because of Pairin’s ‘Divide & Rule’ policy, he allowed Kurup to challenge Dompok; Yong Teck Lee to challenge Chau Tet On, and Lajim to challenge Baharom. As party president and CM, he could have easily called the parties concerned and worked out a ‘peace deal’ to avoid in-fighting. But he didn’t do that because he did not want his lieutenants to be united. By right, Dompok should have been made DCM and Finance Minister after the 1990 election since he was now party No.2 after defeating Kurup. But Pairin transferred him to a less senior post of Agriculture & Fisheries while promoting Kurup (who lost the deputy presidency) as Finance Minister. In the end, it was this Divide & Rule policy which caused the downfall of Pairin and PBS. Yong quit PBS just before the 1994 election followed by Lajim after the election. But Dompok stayed with him until he decided to step down.

Ongkili painted a picture as if PBS were saints and Upko the Vallian or devil. I would like to remind him that PBS won the 1976 election because it was riding on the popularity of the newly-installed Huguan Siou and also because Sabahans were fed-up with Berjaya and Harris over issues like Labuan, Tambunan, Pribumi, abolishment of Easter holidays, Kedai Rakyat, etc etc. And also because PBS campaigned on an anti-BN and anti-West Malaysian (Sabah for Sabahans) platform. But after winning, what did PBS do? It joined BN and kissed Mahathir’s ass.

PBS dug its own grave in 1990 when it dumped BN on the eve of the election to team up with Tengku Razaleigh’s Semangat 46, something described by Mahathir as “a stab in the back”. PBS/46 lost and the rest is history. Razaleigh is back with Umno now. Did somebody say “uprincipled act”?

About a dozen years later, in 2002 I think, PBS rejoined BN, kissing Mahathir’s ass again. Say what you like about Mahathir, as a Sabahan I salute him for having the big heart to take PBS back. He could have ‘killed’ PBS but he didn’t. He personally received the forms to rejoin BN at the PM office from Pairin who was accompanied by Ongkili. I can still remember the then New Straits Times deputy chief editor Kallimulah Hassan quoting Ongkili as saying “Once in the car (after meeting Mahathir), Pairin wept.” ‘Principled-act huh”?

The man responsible for talking to Mahathir to persuade him to take PBS back was then Sabah CM and LDP President Chong Kah Kiat who was Pairin’s party colleague in Berjaya. Pairin was minister and Chong assistant minister then. How did Pairin repay Chong? He sided with Musa when the latter quarrelled with Chong. Principled-Act huh?

Mahathir took PBS back forgiving Pairin and giving him a second chance. How did Pairin repay the old man? He sided with Pak Lah when the two quarrelled just like he sided with Musa. Principled-Act huh? Same thing when Mahathir and Najib quarrelled. Had Pairin been more principled, PBS would not be where it is today (pitiful). The most embarrassing part is Pairin himself lost in Tambunan where he was ‘king’ for decades, not years. It is unthinkable for the Huguan Siou to lose in his hometown. One would have thought that he would finally step down as Huguan Siou after the humiliating election defeat. But he didn’t.

Finally, PBS did not think twice about dumping BN for the second time almost immediately after the May 9 election. This was the second time PBS left BN, and yet it is blaming Upko for doing so. I rest my case. Thank you Mr Editor.

– Sama sama Katak bah.

Note: Articles above are written by a beritasabah.com reader and are purely his own thoughts. The idea presented here does not reflect the political position of this portal.