PENAMPANG:
The district wants Datuk John Ambrose Dumpangol to be appointed as a senator due to his immense contribution to the Barisan Nasional (BN) victories in the Penampang parliamentary constituency and two state seats. The parliamentary seat was won by Tan Sri Bernard Dompok (BN-Upko) while the state seats of Moyog and Kepayan were retained by BN through Donald Datuk Peter Mojuntin (Upko) and Datuk Edward Khoo (MCA) respectively. “But their victory would not have come easy without the help rendered by John and his Umno election machinery which was fine-tuned months prior to the March 8 general elections,” political analysts said. According to them, it could not be denied that before the elections, many voters in Penampang were divided. “A few days before the campaign period, BN’s chances were shaky in the three areas. But John exercised his ability to help the BN candidates and the situation improved tremendously, and to prove that victory wasn’t easy, look at the election results in Penampang,” one of the analysts said. A random survey conducted in Donggongon town here showed that many people wanted John to be given a political position at the Federal level. “It would be nice for John to get a Federal post because he could use it to serve the people well. It doesn’t matter which party he belongs to as long as it is from BN,” they said. Meanwhile, the Penampang Umno division headed by John fully supports the leadership of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and wants him to remain as the Prime Minister. John said Umno has more seats compared to the other BN component parties. “The recent general election has shown that Umno still commands the support of the people, and there is no reason for Pak Lah’s resignation as advocated by the MP for Jerlun, Datuk Mukhriz Tun Mahathir,” he said yesterday. Mukhriz, the son of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had written a letter to Abdullah asking him to step down as the Prime Minister.
