GOVERNMENT MUST WALK THE TALK OR WOULD FACE PROBLEMS IN THE NEXT ELECTIONS

Party still wants to give BN a chance to prove worth

Kota Kinabalu: United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Organisation (Upko) on Friday said it still wants to give the Barisan Nasional (BN) a chance to prove its worth.

Its Deputy President, Datuk Seri Wilfred M. Bumburing, said that is the general sentiment of the party members who are waiting patiently to see what will come out from the 1Malaysia concept.

He said the theme "transformasi melalui tindakan" (transformation through action) to the people means that there must be action.

"Jangan cakap cakap saja (don't just talk)," he told reporters during a lunch with the media here, Friday.

With regards to the people surmising that Upko has been vocal for quite sometime, he said, as a member of the BN, they are not prohibited from conveying to the leadership what the grassroots' thoughts are.

Basically, he said, what the people are saying is that the Government must walk the talk.

During one of the dialogues with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Bumburing said he told the former to take action and to fulfil his 1Malaysia aspiration.

According to him, Upko feels there are four among the most important issues that must be settled fast by the Government, namely, illegal immigrants, religion issue, appropriate development and power sharing.

Illegal immigrants, he said, is the "mother of all problems" besetting the State.

But that it wasn't even included in the National Key Result Area (NKRA) is perplexing, he said. Touching on development, he cited the proposed Labuan Bridge to connect the island and Menumbok.

He said some people are angry because the hundreds of million of ringgit could be better spent on other development.

"I'm not trying to deny the needs of Labuan but people like us in the rural areas need the money for development.

"There must be a clear departure from the normal rate of development," he said, adding that previously, development was incremental.

Power sharing, he said, is also one of the big issues in regard to the transformation concept.

Bumburing said there is also fear that certain factions are becoming racist.

Some of the programmes conducted by the Government are only glorifying certain sections of the ruling coalition. Whereas other members are not given due credit, he said, adding that this has been complained about by the people and duly reported.

Citing Penampang, he said, the Umno branch there claimed it was solely responsible for ensuring Upko's parliamentary victory in the previous election.

And because of that, he said it wants its members to be picked as a Senator and assemblyman.

This, he said, does not portray the power-sharing concept as practised by the BN.

He said if they win or lose, all members of the coalition should stick together.

If they don't address the issues concerned, Bumburing said the BN would face problems in the next elections.