KOTA KINABALU:
Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) President Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan will conduct a post-mortem to find out the reasons behind the party’s loss of the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat and Sri Tanjong state seat in Saturday’s general election. “We will analyse, maybe there are measures we should have taken. We have not made any announcement yet until we carry out the postmortem,” he told reporters after a press conference by Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman on the victory by Barisan Nasional (BN) in securing two-thirds majority in the state election. Pairin said the losses were unexpected, adding that if all members and BN candidates work together, such losses should not occur. “We are really disappointed because our candidates are good people with the potential to be useful to the BN Government,” he said. The two seats were won by BN in the 2004 general election and their losses this time deprived the BN of a clean sweep of state and parliamentary seats in Sabah. On the possibility of sabotage, Pairin said the causes behind the losses needed to be studied from various aspects while conducting the post-mortem. DAP candidate Hiew King Cheu defeated BN’s Chin Tek Ming, Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s Liew Chin Jin and independent candidate Kong Yu Kiong with a majority of 106 votes for the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat while BN’s Samson Chin Chee Tsu lost to DAP’s Wong Sze Phin in Sri Tanjong by a majority of 1,172 votes. Meanwhile, SAPP president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said he was pleased that the party was able to win all the seats it contested, adding that it will work hard to develop the state, with BN. “Sabah and Sarawak can play a bigger role at national level under a strong and stable Federal Government and all will benefit,” he said. - Bernama
