Special committee to look into Tenom Umno controversy
KOTA KINABALU:
The Sabah Umno Liaison Committee has appointed a special committee to look into the controversy at the Tenom Umno Division. Its Deputy Secretary, Datuk Masidi Manjun, said the special committee had received the complaint and it would take the proper action to resolve it. The controversy arose when Tenom Umno Division Deputy Chief Datuk Rizlaman Abdullah and two other leaders, Matusin Balang and Anuar Mohamad, were declared as the winners of Division Chief, Deputy Chief and Vice Chief respectively without any contest last week. However, Rizlaman’s victory was disputed by Kemabong Assemblyman Datuk Rubin Balang who claimed to have obtained enough votes to contest the Division Chief post. Rubin then asked Rizalman to withdraw from the post as it is against the Party’s rules and code of ethics. Two other candidates, Suhaili Guraman and Esar Andamas who were also eligible to contest the posts of Division Deputy Chief and Vice Chief respectively, also asked Matusin and Anuar to withdraw. However, Rizlaman denied the claims of Rubin and the other leaders and said that the decision was based on the report of the branch meetings that was presented by the Election Committee headed by Division Secretary Jamawi Jaafar. Rizlaman claimed that Rubin, Suhaili and Esar had lost their eligibility to contest for the posts after the Election Committee found I out that branch meetings held to vote for them were against the rules and code of ethics. Rubin then challenged Rizlaman to disclose all the branches that held the meetings. However, Rubin said until now, Rizalman had yet to disclose the branches.
