UBF forgets its carefully selected Dec 16 birthdate !

Ezra Haganez
KOTA KINABALU : Thanks to the report carried by an online news portal, freemalaysiatoday, on the failure to observe the third anniversary of much-talk United Borneo Front (UBF) on Dec 16, some in the NGO, quickly issued statement yesterday and said the anniversary was to be held last night, Dec 20, at the NGO's office in Luyang near ere.

UBF chairman, Jeffrey Kitingan, in a statement said UBF in fact carried out 5,000 Borneo tea parties (BTP) programmes within two years of existence (in contrast with FMT report of not less than 800 tea parties).

He even claimed credit that UBF contributed to the number of seats won by the opposition in the last general election, especially on the issues of Sabah and Sarawak independence and autonomy.

"Through our BTP, the people of Sabah and Sarawak are exposed to the actual historical facts of Sabah and the formation of the Federation of Malaysia, especially the gist of the Malaysia Agreement (Article VIII) and the 20-Points," Jeffrey said adding that UBF module and curriculum have also been fine-tuned.

He also said BTP presenters have been given more training and that UBF was being activated throughout Sabah and other areas.

"UBF will also cooperate with other NGOs working on the same mission especially on Borneo Agenda and fight to restore Sabah and Sarawak's independence rights and autonomy," he further said in the statement.

However, many in Jeffrey's loop, when contacted were not aware of any (belated) anniversary of UBF.

A founding leader of UBF, Phillip Among, was reported by FMT that he was not aware of any UBF anniversary but that had learned of it only through the local press report yesterday, five days after the portal carried a piece reminding of the lapsing Dec 16 date.

It is learned the date Dec 16 was auspiciously selected as UBF birth date to coincide with the American Boston tea Party on  Dec 16, 1773 that eventually liberated British colonies in America.

"I was the organising chairman for two UBF anniversaries before, but this year no one seemed to remember the date except when FMT wrote about it five days ago.

"Anyway, if they so decided to hold the belated anniversary tonight, the venue selected, the UBF office that shared the office of State Reform Party (Star) in Damai, Luyang, is just too small for couple of people to come," Among said.   

When Among was the organising chairman, UBF anniversarries were always held with pomps and in high spirit at a hall of the popular Dowish Restaurant in Penampang near here.