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By Ezra Haganez
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah UMNO leaders seem to have supreme confidence in Musa Aman as both the Chief Minister and the party state liaison chief.
They shot down any notation of a brewing dissension within the ranks, ahead of the 13th General Election which might be called by Prime Minister Najib Razak in the next six months or so.
Salleh Said, Musa's deputy liaison chief when texted if there was anthing big at last night UMNO liaison meeting in Kota Kinabalu, just said: "Tiadalah. Short meeting..." (nothing, it was a short meeting).
Well indeed at just over one hour it was a short meeting to be considered as having discussed or elaborated on any significant Sabah issue. Too short, that Musa was looking for the RTM crew, (who had gone out for coffee) when he was about to speak to the press after the meeting.
Brewing dissension...
There had been reports of a brewing dissension within UMNO including in its Youth wing. Musa himself did the implicit revelation during the final day of the State Legislative Assembly yesterday when he ticked off UMNO law-maker Rahim Ismail, certainly not in Musa's clique, for being absence at the sitting.
Musa singled out Rahim, who had queried about the much-talked issuance of Bonds to bolster the state coffer, in fact Musa tied Rahim to opposition-SAPP asemblywoman Melanie Chia when he questioned Rahim being absence.
"In every State Assembly sitting, he (Rahim) would always bring the matter on state bonds, requesting the government to explain why it is included into the state revenue section. But he is always absent on the last day of the sitting, which is the winding up speeches by all ministers to answer issues raised... if he is not present, how are we supposed to explain to him?" Musa had said on Rahim in the House yesterday.
Musa's principal political secretary, Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan, when asked about UMNO meeting last night, too brushed aside anything hot was on the table.
"Meeting biasa saja..." was all Nizam said, refusing to be dragged into commenting on reports that his boss was consolidating his grip on power within Sabah UMNO.
Indeed the meeting last night dwelt on a post-mortem report of the recent Batu Sapi parliamentary by-election where UMNO-led Barisan Nasional triumphantly retained the seat with a doubled majority from the last general election in 2008.
On top of that, very little was said on the preparation for the impending general election. This may signal there is another state UMNO meeting for this one very soon, maybe after Christmas.
Important political decisions made in hideouts not in proper meeting...
Political observers here however cautioned that in Sabah politics, important decisions, normally, were not made at proper party meeting like this one but rather in hideouts, in coffee house or even in other venues more convenient to the ultimate powerful players.
"Just take the state bonds for instance, it was not decided during a Legisative Assembly sitting, but elswehere...
"Bonds to the tune of half a billion ringgit, and in fact more than RM1 billion if there are two separate bonds as contended by Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, should have been approved or decided in the Legislative meeting but it was not. So this speaks volume of politics of the day," one seasoned political observer said.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah UMNO leaders seem to have supreme confidence in Musa Aman as both the Chief Minister and the party state liaison chief.
They shot down any notation of a brewing dissension within the ranks, ahead of the 13th General Election which might be called by Prime Minister Najib Razak in the next six months or so.
Salleh Said, Musa's deputy liaison chief when texted if there was anthing big at last night UMNO liaison meeting in Kota Kinabalu, just said: "Tiadalah. Short meeting..." (nothing, it was a short meeting).
Well indeed at just over one hour it was a short meeting to be considered as having discussed or elaborated on any significant Sabah issue. Too short, that Musa was looking for the RTM crew, (who had gone out for coffee) when he was about to speak to the press after the meeting.
Brewing dissension...
There had been reports of a brewing dissension within UMNO including in its Youth wing. Musa himself did the implicit revelation during the final day of the State Legislative Assembly yesterday when he ticked off UMNO law-maker Rahim Ismail, certainly not in Musa's clique, for being absence at the sitting.
Musa singled out Rahim, who had queried about the much-talked issuance of Bonds to bolster the state coffer, in fact Musa tied Rahim to opposition-SAPP asemblywoman Melanie Chia when he questioned Rahim being absence.
"In every State Assembly sitting, he (Rahim) would always bring the matter on state bonds, requesting the government to explain why it is included into the state revenue section. But he is always absent on the last day of the sitting, which is the winding up speeches by all ministers to answer issues raised... if he is not present, how are we supposed to explain to him?" Musa had said on Rahim in the House yesterday.
Musa's principal political secretary, Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan, when asked about UMNO meeting last night, too brushed aside anything hot was on the table.
"Meeting biasa saja..." was all Nizam said, refusing to be dragged into commenting on reports that his boss was consolidating his grip on power within Sabah UMNO.
Indeed the meeting last night dwelt on a post-mortem report of the recent Batu Sapi parliamentary by-election where UMNO-led Barisan Nasional triumphantly retained the seat with a doubled majority from the last general election in 2008.
On top of that, very little was said on the preparation for the impending general election. This may signal there is another state UMNO meeting for this one very soon, maybe after Christmas.
Important political decisions made in hideouts not in proper meeting...
Political observers here however cautioned that in Sabah politics, important decisions, normally, were not made at proper party meeting like this one but rather in hideouts, in coffee house or even in other venues more convenient to the ultimate powerful players.
"Just take the state bonds for instance, it was not decided during a Legisative Assembly sitting, but elswehere...
"Bonds to the tune of half a billion ringgit, and in fact more than RM1 billion if there are two separate bonds as contended by Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, should have been approved or decided in the Legislative meeting but it was not. So this speaks volume of politics of the day," one seasoned political observer said.
Nay yu, sali sukung musa janganlah kamu picaya si sali tu.. last2 dia yg mau tu jawatan
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