Kalabakan Member of Parliament Datuk Ghapur Salleh is known for his fiery remarks against the oppositions and also against his fellow Barisan Nasional component parties or leaders.
And on Monday, 17th October 2011, Ghapur was again on the limelight, this time the man known as the Lion of Kalabakan or Singa Kalabakan, slammed Gerakan, a fellow BN component party.
Ghapur urged the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak, who is also the BN Chairman, not to field Gerakan to contest in Sabah in the coming 13th general election.
“It will be a crying shame if we do that,” he said during the debate in Parliament on the Budget.
He said that ” Gerakan has been uprooted in their home soil in Penang and it will have no relevancy and impact in Sabah. It will be further uprooted in Sabah as the voters, especially the Chinese, despise and do not welcome Gerakan in Sabah,”
“PM talks about winnable candidate. We must also remember we must have a winnable political party because people vote for party who has intergrity, reputation and clean image. Gerakan is not a winnable [political] party at all. It is a liability to BN as a whole."
Ghapur went on to say that all the YBs from Sabah now in Gerakan are “frogs” who are there so that they can keep their cabinet position. They do not get any respect from the people of Sabah.
"None of them is a winnable candidate.” claimed Ghafur.
For the record, Gerakan did not field any candidate in the 2004 and 2008 general election in Sabah and yet now the party has 3 YBs from Sabah, 2 of them are full state cabinet ministers.
The 3 are Minister of Industrial Development and Tanjung Papat Assemblyman Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah, Minister of Youth & Sports and Assemblyman of Karamunting Datuk Peter Pang En Yin and Elopura Assemblyman, Au Kam Wah.
Raymond Tan and Au Kam Wah were formerly members of Sabah Progressive party, SAPP who pulled out of BN in September 2008.
Meanwhile Peter Pang pulled out of Liberal Democratic Party, LDP in September 2010 due to indifference's with party leaders including LDP President, Datuk VK Liew who is also Sandakan Member of Parliament and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.
Ghapur said “About two weeks ago, the President of Gerakan came to Tawau to officiate an opening of the party’s office. There are many Bumiputras supporters coming from my area who were paid RM300.00 per person to attend. Some of them are UMNO members. This is really a shame because Gerakan who claims to be a Chinese based party and lured these UMNO supporters by giving them money to come and attend Gerakan event, ” he further said much to the amusement of the MPs who were present in the House.
Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, the President of Gerakan, and himself defeated in the 12th General Election in 2008, has been facing a barrack of criticisms both from outside and inside of his party and a weak leader.
The Gerakan ex-President Tun Lim Keng Yeik had openly criticised him for taking up the Federal cabinet post when he had lost every single Gerakan’s seats in Penang.
Lim had in the past urged Koh to pull out from BN so to have a chance to bring back the Chinese confidence in Gerakan. Koh has been dilly dally and not doing anything about it.
Even the Independent MPs from Penang notably from Tan Tee Beng from Nebong Tebal, and Zaharain Mohd hashim from Bayan Baru had also openly asked for his head to roll saying the Koh is no more relevant inPenangand should retire completely from politics completely.
Just two days ago, even the Gerakan Wanita head Tan Lian Ho asked for her President to buck up or step aside as she is embarrassed by Koh’s weak leadership.
Over the last two days, Koh was reported to have said that he will make a few important decisions in the next few days. It is rumoured that he is contemplating to heed to his ex-president’s advice by pulling out from BN.
Meanwhile Sabah BN Chairman and Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said Ghapur was speaking in his personal capacity and that opinion is not the official Sabah BN's views.
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