Posts
What a co-incidence! Only two hours ago I wrote about the birth of the Berjaya party in 1975 and its demise in the late 1980s. And moments ago I decided to visit Joseph Bingkasan's (JB) blog, Aki Momogun and what's his posting today? - According to him a group of young Sabah leaders are in the process of reviving Berjaya! Even the logo (above) is the same except for the additional thumbs-up sign. Also still there is the slogan or battle cry "Berjaya Tetap Berjaya" (Berjaya always succeeds).If I remember correctly, the thumbs-up sign was also the 'signal' of Sabah People's Party or Parti Rakyat Sabah (PRS) led by former Berjaya deputy president the late Datuk Dr James Peter Ongkili. PRS was formed in 1989 by mostly former leaders of Berjaya which had by then been dissolved. It made its debut in the 1990 Sabah state general election but failed to win a single seat! PBS led by Ongkili's uncle Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan won a landslide in that election. Talk about blood being thicker than water!
Ongkili, also a former Sabah deputy chief minister, himself suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of his former opponent, Datuk Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing the PBS candidate. 'Humiliating' because Ongkili, also a former federal minister in the Malaysian Cabinet and one of the most educated Sabah leaders, lost his deposit. Bumburing, who was Ongkili's student at the University of Malaya in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur in the 1970s, lost his deposit when he fought as an opposition candidate (Pasok party) against then deputy chief minister Ongkili in 1981. What a reversal of fortunes!
Among the PRS leaders who also lost was former Berjaya minister Datuk Ayub Aman, in Bingkor. The PRS deputy president is the brother of the current Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Musa Aman. Ayub's teaming-up with Ongkili was most unexpected, as the two were at logger-heads during the Berjaya era; with the former leading the Dusun Association while the latter insisted that the Dusun should be called Kadazan. Mind you, when Ayub first rebutted openly against Ongkili, he (Ayub) was only an Assistant Minister while Ongkili was his senior colleague being the No. 2 man in both the government and ruling party! This led to rumours that Ayub had the No.1 (Chief Minister and Berjaya president Harris Salleh) behind him. As the saying goes, there's no permanent friend and no permanent enemy in politics!
Ongkili later gave up leadership of the Kadazans and passed the baton on to his uncle, another former Berjaya minister Joseph Pairin who cleverly used it for political gains and achieved the ultimate prize in Sabah politics - that of the Chief Ministership in 1985 - something which Ongkili must have regretted. Man proposes, God disposes. Pairin, despite being Ongkili's relative, had earlier fell out of favour with Harris and dropped from the latter's Cabinet.
PRS was dissolved after its disastrous debut outing. Ongkili died a few years ago. May his soul rest in peace.
For more on Berjaya Baru, which I myself heard of only today, go to JB's blog: http://akimomogun.blogspot.com. I would like to take this opportunity to thank JB for introducing me to blogging 2 years ago. As far as I know, he is the only Sabah blogger to have appeared in the TV programme Blog over RTM. Congratulations! Well done brother, keep it up.
Footnote: Berjaya president and former Sabah chief minister Datuk Harris Salleh stepped down after its defeat mid-1985. The then party secretary-general Datuk Mohd Noor Mansoor defeated Ongkili for the new presidency, despite the latter being the incumbent No.2. Noor led Berjaya to an even more disastrous outing in the 1986 snap Sabah state general election. If Berjaya under Harris won 6 seats (out of 48) in 1985, the party under Noor won even less in 1986. A few months after the state election, the federal or parliamentary election followed. By then PBS had been accepted into BN along with Usno, the 'survivor' despite losing to Berjaya in 1976. Berjaya under Noor dropped a bomb shell just before the nationwide election - it pulled out of the BN, apparently trying to win votes of Sabahans dissatisfied with PBS' entry into BN. It didn't work. Berjaya scored 0. That sealed Berjaya's fate and the party was eventually dissolved for good.
Ongkili, also a former Sabah deputy chief minister, himself suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of his former opponent, Datuk Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing the PBS candidate. 'Humiliating' because Ongkili, also a former federal minister in the Malaysian Cabinet and one of the most educated Sabah leaders, lost his deposit. Bumburing, who was Ongkili's student at the University of Malaya in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur in the 1970s, lost his deposit when he fought as an opposition candidate (Pasok party) against then deputy chief minister Ongkili in 1981. What a reversal of fortunes!
Among the PRS leaders who also lost was former Berjaya minister Datuk Ayub Aman, in Bingkor. The PRS deputy president is the brother of the current Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Musa Aman. Ayub's teaming-up with Ongkili was most unexpected, as the two were at logger-heads during the Berjaya era; with the former leading the Dusun Association while the latter insisted that the Dusun should be called Kadazan. Mind you, when Ayub first rebutted openly against Ongkili, he (Ayub) was only an Assistant Minister while Ongkili was his senior colleague being the No. 2 man in both the government and ruling party! This led to rumours that Ayub had the No.1 (Chief Minister and Berjaya president Harris Salleh) behind him. As the saying goes, there's no permanent friend and no permanent enemy in politics!
Ongkili later gave up leadership of the Kadazans and passed the baton on to his uncle, another former Berjaya minister Joseph Pairin who cleverly used it for political gains and achieved the ultimate prize in Sabah politics - that of the Chief Ministership in 1985 - something which Ongkili must have regretted. Man proposes, God disposes. Pairin, despite being Ongkili's relative, had earlier fell out of favour with Harris and dropped from the latter's Cabinet.
PRS was dissolved after its disastrous debut outing. Ongkili died a few years ago. May his soul rest in peace.
For more on Berjaya Baru, which I myself heard of only today, go to JB's blog: http://akimomogun.blogspot.com. I would like to take this opportunity to thank JB for introducing me to blogging 2 years ago. As far as I know, he is the only Sabah blogger to have appeared in the TV programme Blog over RTM. Congratulations! Well done brother, keep it up.
Footnote: Berjaya president and former Sabah chief minister Datuk Harris Salleh stepped down after its defeat mid-1985. The then party secretary-general Datuk Mohd Noor Mansoor defeated Ongkili for the new presidency, despite the latter being the incumbent No.2. Noor led Berjaya to an even more disastrous outing in the 1986 snap Sabah state general election. If Berjaya under Harris won 6 seats (out of 48) in 1985, the party under Noor won even less in 1986. A few months after the state election, the federal or parliamentary election followed. By then PBS had been accepted into BN along with Usno, the 'survivor' despite losing to Berjaya in 1976. Berjaya under Noor dropped a bomb shell just before the nationwide election - it pulled out of the BN, apparently trying to win votes of Sabahans dissatisfied with PBS' entry into BN. It didn't work. Berjaya scored 0. That sealed Berjaya's fate and the party was eventually dissolved for good.
No comments:
Post a Comment