Sabah Bersatu: Hamzah's 'palui' was aimed at Sabah govt, not rakyat

Summary

• Sabah Bersatu deputy chief Affan Jumahat tells Chief Minister Hajiji Noor not to spin Bersatu deputy president Hamzah Zainudin’s recent “palui” statement.

• Affan says Hamzah clearly did not mean to call all Sabahans “palui”, slang for idiot, and was using it to refer to Hajiji’s administration.

• He adds the chief minister should not attempt to divert attention from his administration’s failure to provide the state with basic amenities and the ongoing corruption scandal.

A Sabah Bersatu leader has come to the defence of party deputy president Hamzah Zainudin, who was accused of insulting Sabahans over his recent speech in the state where the Larut MP reportedly branded Chief Minister Hajiji Noor as “palui”.

In Sabahan slang, palui is an adjective that carries the meaning stupid or idiot.

Sabah Bersatu deputy chief Muhammad Affan Jumahat said Hamzah’s remark was clearly aimed at the Sabah state government leadership and not Sabahans in general.

Thus, he urged Hajiji not to spin the issue into an attempt to cover up his alleged failure as a state administrator.

“Hajiji should not ride on the ‘palui’ issue to divert the rakyat’s attention from his failure to lead the state, because such an attempt only shows how desperate he is as a chief minister.

“Problems such as power outages, interrupted water supply, and poor road conditions are real issues that the people are facing in Sabah. All these problems stemmed from Hajiji and (his party) Gabungan Rakyat Sabah’s weakness, and trying to divert the people’s attention would not cut it to cover their failure.

“Not only are these issues embarrassing, the state’s basic infrastructures are also declining under Hajiji leadership which is a betrayal of the rakyat's trust.

“On top of this, when the people’s hardships were being ignored, GRS leaders were been implicated in the recent corruption videos scandal,” Affan said in a statement.

‘Covering own weaknesses’

He was responding to Hajiji, who yesterday lambasted Hamzah for allegedly insulting all Sabahans by calling them “palui”.

According to a Berita Harian report, the GRS chairperson said it was ill-mannered for Hamzah to come to the state and make such remarks in Sabah.

Adding further, Affan said Hamzah never aimed the derogatory term at Sabahans in general but was instead using it to describe the state leadership.

Besides, he said, the opposition chief has also retracted the remark later in his speech in Kudat.

“Stop dragging the rakyat of Sabah into this issue to cover your own weaknesses,” Affan said.

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