Sabah BN confident of retaining Kota Belud seats

The State BN says judging from the progress the party
has brought and the sentiments of the people, it can
keep all three and one parliamentary seats.

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA BELUD: Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) is confident of retaining all four seats in the Kota Belud area in the coming general election.

The four seats are the three state constituencies of Tempasuk, Usukan and Kadamaian, and the sole parliamentary seat of Kota Belud. They are currently held by Sabah Umno and its strongest ally Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).

Chief Minister Musa Aman, who was here for the BN Hari Raya open house celebration on Saturday, said he was happy to see the show of support here led by state Umno deputy chief, Salleh Said Keruak, who is also Umno divisional head for Kota Belud.

“I’m touched by the show of support here, the very place where Umno was born in Sabah,”
Musa said, recalling how the late Mustapha Harun won Usukan for Umno in a by-election in 1991.

Mustapha was then forced to vacate the seat under the now-repealed state anti-hopping law, for joining Umno, barely months after he won it under the Usno ticket in the 1990 general election.

“I believe if we work harder, we will be able to increase the people’s support and ensure all seats in the Kota Belud district be permanently in BN hands,” Musa told thousands of well-wishers.

He also recalled his days helping Mustapha win in the by-election. “I was then helping with
house-to-house campaign for Umno. I was a nobody then, but we worked hard for victory, and so we must ensure we win again here,” he said.

Musa also hit out at the opposition in Sabah, describing it as mere “penjual ubat” (street-peddlars), who are day-dreaming to overthrow a strong BN government.

“They can continue day-dreaming. They are good only in promising the moon and the stars, but BN under the leadership of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak delivers real progress,” he said.

He later cut a huge cake witnessed by all BN component parties.

Earlier, Salleh said under the current scenario, BN would win all four seats in Kota Belud judging from the progress the party has brought here and also the sentiments of the people.

“We can win all these four seats in Kota Belud,” he said to applause from the crowd who also came to have a closer look at artistes like Stacy, Adam and Salwa Abdul Rahman who belted out some of their favourite songs.

Salleh also paid tribute to Musa’s leadership, saying he is the best person to bring development and progress to Sabah and the people regardless of colour, religion and political affiliation.

“We in Kota Belud are fortunate to have a chief minister who loves this place and always made it a point to come here to see and listen to us even though he has a very tight schedule,” he said.