Umno Sabah leaders are falling all over themselves to pile the pressure on hawkish Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leaders who have virtually declared war against the ruling coalition in Sabah.

Umno Kalabakan is taking the lead in the fight back against the renegade BN party.

For one, the parliamentary division is demanding that the Merotai state seat be handed back to Umno.

"This is a hot issue. We unanimously demand it be returned from the state liaison committee and the prime minister," fumed Kalabakan MP Abdul Ghapur Salleh .

The seat has reportedly been "on loan" to the LDP for the last two terms.

NONE Ghapur ( left ) reasons that Merotai is 80 percent Muslim and "there's no reason why it should be given to another Barisan Nasional (BN) component party".

He warned that if Merotai was not handed back, Umno Kalabakan could not guarantee that the BN would retain the seat during the next general election.

"With the return of Merotai, we believe that all three zones - Sebatik, Tanjung Batu, Merotai -and the Kalabakan parliamentary seat will be BN's for the taking," said Ghapur. "If Merotai is given to LDP as before, we don't guarantee anything in Kalabakan."

Ghapur denied his demand was a tit-for-tat move following the reiteration by LDP leaders that Sabah and Sarawak should no longer be considered as ‘fixed deposits' by the ruling coalition. LDP leaders issued the reminder in the wake of the BN's defeat in Sibu on May 16.

Instead, Ghapur held that the LDP will have difficulties in winning the seat following the recent action by the Forest Department (FD) to "chase out farmers who had cultivated oil palm in the area for the last 32 years". He did not touch on the FD stand that the oil palm was cultivated in forest areas mostly by locals using illegal immigrant labour.

Ghapur also cited the reluctance of non-Muslim voters to vote for Muslim candidates as another reason why Merotai should be handed back to Umno Sabah.

"The political trend is that when the majority in an area is non-Muslim, they will not vote for a Muslim candidate," charged Ghapur. "So why should Merotai be an exception although Muslims are willing to vote for non-Muslim candidates in a Muslim majority seat?"

‘Things were different before'

The Kalabakan strongman, a former deputy chief minister who suddenly resigned his post on his own accord, pledged that he was not trying to break up the BN in Sabah

He added that Kalabakan only wanted its rights.

Things were different before, he reiterated, because of BN's power-sharing concept. "Now, power-sharing will not guarantee victory. The people can choose PKR, Pas or others."

Now it was apparently now no longer possible to ignore ethnicity in the choice of a candidate for any seat.

It was not immediately clear whether Ghapur was proposing that the "Merotai Formula" be prescribed in other state and parliamentary seats as well in Sabah. There are also non-Muslim Dusun majority seats held by Umno Sabah.

Umno Sabah Youth Chief Azman Ruslan, taking a softer line, warned that constant criticism by the LDP will convey the impression that "the people of Sabah are not grateful for the efforts made by BN to develop the state".

tham nyip shen Umno Sabah Youth Information Chief Baharul Sawi wants LDP leaders to "use the proper channels when raising issues".

Former Umno Sabah Chief Minister Salleh Keruak, likewise, castigated LDP for not using "the proper channels" when raising issues. He sees this as a betrayal of "the spirit of the BN".

Former Sapp Deputy Chief Minister Tham Nyip Shen ( left ) wanted to remind the people that former LDP Chief Minister Chong Kah Kiat left behind several problems ‘whose negative effects can still be seen".

Among these, he cited the sale of land meant for a Chinese school to a Sarawakian company; the increase in the number of gambling outlets; the award of land meant for a China Pulp and Paper Company to cronies; and the reduction of the timber royalty by 50 percent.

"I am no longer in the BN and need not defend the coalition," stressed Tham. "But what I have just cited are facts that the LDP should not ignore."

Tham however could not resist praising Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for his generosity in handing out a considerable number of federal government cheques to the Chinese and mission schools in Sibu recently. "I was there," disclosed Tham. "LDP should not read too much into BN's defeat in Sibu. Most voters did not feel the effects of the handouts in Sibu by- election day."

Meanwhile, LDP leaders are being urged by former LDP Chief Minister Chong Kah Kiat not to relent in their struggle for fairness and justice in the BN.

Real leaders please stand up

In a widely circulated text message last Friday, Chong advised party members that "it's time for the real LDP leaders to stand up and be united under datuk president and datuk deputy president and stop stooping down like a lapdog to the Sabah Umno top leadership".

chong kah kiat "Positions and projects will never last especially to the unprincipled and short-sighted LDP leaders as our party's history has shown," added Chong ( right ).

The former LDP president urged the party's organising secretary and secretary-general to pass his short text message to all central executive committee members and to all the party's divisional chairpersons.

"Please remind each and everyone of them that none should sell their self-respect by the lure of projects or promises or positions by this Sabah Umno top leadership whose evil intent is to split our party," concluded Chong in the text message.

Chong has been out of the public limelight for several months of late until he re-surfaced recently to brief the local media, among others on his aborted Mazu (Goddess of the Sea) statue in Kudat.

The Federal Court is yet to set a date to hear his appeal against earlier court rulings that he had "no right to go to court" on the matter. His contention is that no court has yet ruled that the building of the statue is illegal.