Bung
KOTA KINABALU: Sunday (Feb 21) will mark the 30th anniversary of Umno’s inception in Sabah. In conjunction with this celebration, a ceremony will be held tomorrow (Feb 20), in accordance with the standard operating procedures (SOP).
Although the ceremony will be quite simple, it still carries a deep meaning to all the Umno members in Sabah – which currently totals up to more than 600,000 since its inception on Feb 21, 1991.
During its early days in Sabah, Umno did not face much challenges – unlike what it had faced when the party, which is a component of Barisan Nasional (BN) lost to Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the 14th General Election (GE14).
Umno was seen as a new hope for Sabahans as a majority of the Malay community as well as the other races here had accepted them. They believed that the unity among the various races would bring about political stability and development in all aspects for Sabah.
The situation became worse after BN lost to PH and Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) at the state level following the exodus of BN leaders to Warisan – which then paved the way for the formation of a new state government.
Sabah Umno was hit even harder after several Umno leaders joined Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) – a syndrome that initially came from Peninsula Malaysia.
Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin was then given the responsibility by president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to lead Sabah Umno as state chief – with the support of the remaining few members who stayed with the party – in the midst of crisis, challenges and trials.
“The saddest part was when 22 Umno leaders (in Sabah) ditched the party, which included division chiefs, deputy division chiefs, women leaders as well as youth leaders.
“At that time, Umno was deemed to be non-existent and I was entrusted by Umno president, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to lead Umno Sabah,” said Bung when commenting on Umno’s 30 years’ existence in the state.
Bung’s first test as the leader of Sabah Umno was during the Kimanis parliamentary by-election.
Umno placed its Kimanis division chief Datuk Mohamad Alamin to face Warisan’s Datuk Karim Bujang in a one-on-one fight.
Bung, who served as BN’s election director for the by-election, admitted that the election was a tough challenge for the party and that none of its members expected that they could actually win the election.
Umno’s victory in Kimanis proved the negative perception wrong and that Umno had recovered and gotten stronger. This spirit was then brought to the 16th state election, which was held from Sept 16 to 26, last year.
Umno managed to win 14 out of 31 seats that they contested in.
Although Bung admitted that the victory was quite small, he opined that the victory had served as a positive indication for Umno’s reception in Sabah.
On Umno’s future in Sabah, Bung said that the party must not rely on the quantity alone but should focus on values and quality for it to remain strong and relevant.
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