KIMANIS: Barisan Nasional expects to ramp up its campaign in the Kimanis by-election with the help of Sabah-based opposition parties in the coming days.
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State Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin said Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) – which decided not to contest – had agreed to help BN secure a win for its candidate, Mohamad Alamin.
Mohamad Alamin will take on Warisan’s Karim Bujang in a straight fight for the parliamentary seat on Jan 18.
“(Former Kimanis MP) Anifah Aman is also coming. He will work hard for us soon until the finish,” Bung Moktar told reporters after a ceramah at Kampung Kuala Mandahan in Bongawan here last night.
He said Umno had no problem working with Anifah, who quit the party to become an independent in September last year.
“It’s okay, there’s no problem because he is an independent and he is not with any party now,” Bung, the Kinabatangan MP, said.
PBS said it would back a candidate who opposed the controversial Sabah Temporary Pass (PSS) but has yet to publicly express its support for BN.
Its president Maximus Ongkili told reporters last week that Mohamad Alamin’s views on illegal immigrants and state rights were not in line with PBS’ policy when Mohamad Alamin was the Bongawan assemblyman previously
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“But, clearly, we will support any party or individual who opposes the present Warisan-led state government,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bung Moktar said he believed the Muafakat Nasional concept mooted by Umno and PAS would have no problem working in Sabah, just like during the recent by-elections in the peninsula.
“We have tried it in Tanjung Piai and Cameron Highlands. Muafakat Nasional also puts forward other religions and not just Islam,” he said, adding that MIC and MCA had no problem with the concept,
“It has been accepted in Sabah. That’s why PBS and STAR are also helping us,” he said.
Earlier, addressing the ceramah, Bung Moktar said he was incensed that Warisan president Shafie Apdal and Upko president Wilfred Madius Tangau were running down BN and forgetting what the coalition had given them before.
“I feel resentment because they all came from BN. They were given important posts then but when they are out, they are saying things to run down BN.
“I am angry because they say we are a Malayan party. What about them? They are working with DAP, PKR and those in Pakatan Harapan,” he said. -FMT