PETALING JAYA: An aide to Maximus Ongkili claims the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president has no qualms about being labelled “insane” after revealing that a Barisan Nasional (BN) component party used phantom voters to win elections in Sabah.
Ongkili’s political secretary, Jonnybone Kurum, said Ongkili had relied on facts in the report of a royal commission of inquiry into the large presence of undocumented migrants in Sabah.
“To us, it is okay for Ongkili to be called insane for speaking up on behalf of the people. The president exposed the truth of BN’s past sins and its betrayal of the constitution.” said Kurum, who is assemblyman for Telupid.
“Yes, we were part of BN then, and we did voice out our stand and complaints,” he said. PBS had made proposals, but these were never taken up.
Following Ongkili’s disclosure on Thursday, Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin accused him of being ungrateful while former Sabah Umno leader Salleh Said Keruak described Ongkili as “insane”.
Kurum said Umno should not get too emotional as former prime minister Najib Razak had revealed that Dr Mahathir Mohamad was behind the “Projek IC”, in which undocumented migrants were given Malaysian identity cards.
He said Najib had acknowledged that the party involved was Umno, then headed by Mahathir, with the action being backed by Anwar Ibrahim, then Mahathir’s deputy.
“Whatever our president said on the issue was not fabricated. It was all based on facts,” he said.
