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KOTA KINABALU: Sabah PPBM youth wing leader Fairuz Renddan accused his Umno Youth counterpart Abdul Aziz Julkarnain of making unsubstantiated claims that PPBM had lured Umno members to switch sides.
Fairuz also characterized Aziz’s actions as an attempt to sow discord in the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah coalition.
“His actions of making baseless accusations are similar to wanting to break unity within GRS,” Fairuz said here today. “How sure is (Aziz) about this (PPBM attracting Sabah Umno members)? Where did the problem of the ‘buy and steal’ of Umno members of PPBM come from? “
Fairuz said that Sabah Umno members who left the party had become independent members of the state assembly before joining the PPBM. He said they did it on their own after PPBM settled in Sabah in April 2019.
The head of the Umno National Youth, Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, had previously accused PPBM of trying to “rob and buy” its members.
Yesterday, Aziz claimed that PPBM had almost succeeded in luring all Sabah Umno members to join the party during an exodus of nearly all high-ranking Sabah Umno members, including MPs and assembly members, in December 2018.
Calling this the first phase, he said that most of Sabah Umno’s division chiefs were “lured to join PPBM and leave Umno.”
“I’m not sure if there is another phase (now),” he said. “In the initial stage, it was a proposal to replace Umno completely (in Sabah). I hope they don’t anymore. And we welcome anyone from PPBM to return with open arms, if they wish. “
In response, Fairuz told Aziz not to make such a claim if he didn’t have any solid proof. “Don’t ruin the unity in GRS that makes Umno and PPBM partners in the formation of the Sabah government,” he said.
He urged members of the ruling coalition to refrain from making statements that could damage harmony within GRS.
