Single party rule can happen again-Yong

PENAMPANG: Having a single party to rule a state or government is nothing new as Sabah is one of the three states in Malaysia which have done that.

"It is possible ... there are only three states in Malaysia which have had a single party government. Sabah during Berjaya and PBS as well as PAS in Kelantan and Terengganu. It has happened before and it can happen again," Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said.


Yong said this when asked to comment on Parti KITA national chairman Datuk Pengiran Rauf's statement urging Sabahans to lead the way in giving the mandate to one party, instead of a coalition to form the next government.

"This is because component parties in a coalition are busy quarreling among themselves as everyone wants to be on top and therefore have no time to resolve issues affecting the people,” Pengiran Rauf who is also Parti KITA Sabah liaison chief said.

He pointed out that even now, members of Political coalitions were quarreling among themselves over issues such as seats allocation for the 13th general election and added that in the past, Sabah was ruled by a one party government, Berjaya and this is what Sabahans should consider before casting their votes in the coming election," he said in a statement on Monday.

Yong when asked for his opinion if a single Party government was better than a coalition, stressed that both had their Pros and cons.

"But if a single party running a state or a government with a very focused program like in the case of SAPP where we are talking about Sabah autonomy, then we are looking at a very focused agenda. It can happen," he stressed.

When asked to comment on KDM Malaysia which has a similar objective as SAPP on the native land issues, Yong who admitted that he was not the best person to comment on it, pointed out that the NGO was linked to Umno.

“KDM Malaysia as far as I know, is Umno linked and I think the basic problem with land issue today in Sabah has mainly to do with Umno leaders as they are part of the problem of the land issues.

"So KDM Malaysia is an Umno off-shoot from its Penampang division, so for them to say that they will solve the land issue does not hold water," he said when met after the launching of SAPP's Sabah Land Reforms here yesterday.