Najib visiting Sabah… again

Political analysts in Sabah are of the opinion that
Najib Tun Razak's meeting with Sabah Umno in
Sandakan this weekend could be tense.

By Calvin Kabaron
KOTA KINABALU: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is set to fly into Sabah for a two-day visit on Saturday (Sept 1) a day after Merdeka Day, which has raised a storm here over the federal government’s insistence that the nation is celebrating its 55th birthday.

It’s Najib’s fourth visit to Sabah this year and comes six weeks after his last visit to Keningau on June 16. All have so far been carefully staged affairs to give the impression that he is popular in the state.

Though there is no official statement about his itinerary here, signboards welcoming him and wife Rosmah Mansor, are already up in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and in Kota Belud, the birth place of Sabah Umno.

Musa remains our leader, says Umno man

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Umno has brushed off claims of a shake-up in the party and that its strongman Musa Aman could well be on the way out ahead of the crucial general election.

Senior Sabah Umno leader, Masidi Manjun, quickly dismissed the news report in FMT as mere rumour, claiming even Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was impressed by Musa’s performance, both as Umno head and chief minister.

Janji Demokrasi

KOTA KINABALU: Bersih Sabah turut sokong perhimpunan ‘Janji Demokrasi’

Bersih Sabah menyokong penuh perhimpunan ‘Janji Demokrasi’ yang bakal berlangsung pada ambang Hari Merdeka di Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. Himpunan ini sebenarnya adalah bertujuan untuk meraikan semangat kemerdekaan dan mengingatkan kerajaan sekali lagi tentang lapan tuntutan Bersih yang harus ditunaikan bagi menambahbaik sistem pilihanraya yang sedia ada.

Tun: Pembangkang memerintah selepas PRU-13, bahaya?

Ketua Penerangan Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah
Air (Kita) Sabah Mutang Dawat @ Sylvester

Oleh: Ambrose M Matthew
TENOM: Ketua Penerangan Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air (Kita) Sabah Mutang Dawat @ Sylvester (gambar), membidas kenyataan bekas Perdana Menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad baru baru ini yang menyatakan bahawa jika berlaku perubahan tampuk kerajaan selepas pilihanraya umum kali ke-13 (PRU-13) kepada pembangkang amat bahaya kerana banyak perkara buruk akan berlaku.

Beliau berkata, selagi pemerintahan negara ini yang mengamalkan sistem demokrasi, rakyat berhak menentukan siapa yang bakal meneraju negara dan tiada siapa boleh menghalang kemahuan mereka termasuk Najib dan Mahathir.

STAR to Commemorate 49th Anniversary of Sabah Independence

“Sabah will mark and commemorate the 49th anniversary of Sabah Independence on 31 August 2012 with a convoy of vehicles from Tambunan starting at 7.30 am. to Keningau town where a parade will be held at the Town Padang commencing 8.30 am.  The commemoration will end with a Luncheon cum Hari Raya Open House at the Restoran Pelancongan Pedalaman, Keningau at 12.00 noon” announced Dr. Nicholas James Guntobon, Organizing Chairman of the events in a press statement released today.

Pemuda Umno Keningau Guna Sentimen 20 Perkara Raih Simpati Pengundi, Star

Oleh: Mail Mathew
TENOM: Ketua Pergerakan Pemuda Parti Star Sabah Hasmin Azroy Abdullah (gambar), menyifatkan tindakan Ketua Pergerakan Pemuda Umno Keningau Azman Haji Ruslan baru baru ini yang membangkitkan semula isu 20 Perkara sekadar meraih perhatian pucuk pimpinan Umno agar beliau dicalunkan pada pilihanraya umum kali ke-13 (PRU-13) akan datang ini.

Beliau berkata, tidak mungkin Azman tidak memahaminya sedangkan ramai pemimpin utama Barisan Nasional (BN) sudah menyatakan bahawa 20 Perkara mempunyai justifikasinya namun beliau sengaja membangkitkannya lagi dalam usahanya menjadi “hero” untuk melawan arus.

WISHING ALL SABAHANS A MEMORABLE INDEPENDENCE DAY ON 31 AUGUST (NOT THE OTHER MERDEKA DAY!)

By Anonymous

If there is anything to commemorate it is the short 16 bitter sweet days of real freedom.

Sabah since 1761 (when Dalrymple got it as trading post from the Brunei Sultanate) has basically been traded like a piece of real estate by Brunei, the Dutch, Spanish, USA, Austrians, Britain and then Malaya. (The latest trade off were the 2 blocks of offshore oilfields for Brunei dropping its claim on Limbang).

If we were to take 1865 (leased by the USA) as the starting point of the foreign colonization of North Borneo/Sabah, the poor country is still a colony after nearly 150 years!

STAR: Not False Hopes if 20-Points Enforced or Complied With

STAR's Sabah Chairman, Dr Jeffrey Kitingan

“The reason advanced by Keningau Umno Youth regarding the struggle for the 20-Points is creating “false hopes” for the people especially the bumiputra communities in Sabah clearly reinforce STAR Sabah’s stand that outside parties like Umno cannot best defend Sabah’s rights” said Dr. Nicholas James Guntobon, Deputy Chairman of STAR Sabah and chief of the Interior Zone in response to the statement by Keningau Youth Chief in the papers yesterday.

Sabah Founding Forefathers Visionary

17 Afghans beheaded by muslim Taliban for dancing

By HEIDI VOGT and MIRWAIS KHAN of Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Insurgents beheaded 17 civilians in a Taliban-controlled area of southern Afghanistan, apparently because they attended a dance party that flouted the extreme brand of Islam embraced by the militants, officials said Monday.

The killings, in a district where U.S. Marines have battled the Taliban for years, were a reminder of how much power the insurgent group still wields in the south — particularly as international forces draw down and hand areas over to Afghan forces.

Something to lean from socialist Venezuela

Susan Spronk and Jeffery R. Webber (SS and JRW): Can you tell us about your political history?

Susan Spronk and Roland Denis.

Roland Denis (RD): My story starts in the mid-1970s. By chance I happened to be in Nicaragua at the end of the 1970s during the Sandinista Revolution. I learned a lot of different things there. From there I began to identify with the cause of the poor. When I returned to Venezuela at the beginning of the 1980s, I started to become active on the left; the situation was radicalizing quickly and there was a lot of violence [due to political persecution of the left]. I was a survivor, but many compañeros lost their lives in the struggle. That guy over there [pointing to one of his friends of about the same age], for example, is also a survivor; he was a leader in the student movement in Mérida.