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By MUGUNTAN VANAR KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) is sticking to its guns of seeing its eight-point agenda implemented for Sabah and feels a leadership change in Barisan Nasional will make no difference to it.
The party president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said that as far as SAPP was concerned it had nothing personal against the Prime Minister or other Barisan leaders but was seeking a better deal for Sabah. Yong said this to reporters when asked if SAPP would consider returning to Barisan if there was a change in Prime Minister. He said issues of migrant problems, higher oil royalty and political autonomy, among others, were the key issues that his party was seeking to resolve for Sabah and their criteria was not about who the Prime Minister of the day was. However, Yong said his personal guess was that Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would only stick to the 2010 transition plan adopted by Umno supreme council in July on the basis that he has the support of Umno division members and a majority in Parliament. “I am guessing; I do not think there will be any early transition,” said Yong whose party on June 18 called for a vote of no-confidence against Abdullah and on Sept 17 pulled out of the Barisan coalition to remain an independent opposition. On the position of his deputy president Datuk Raymond Tan who claimed that he was no longer with the party and has remained a Barisan independent, Yong said SAPP has yet to receive his (Tan) resignation letter. Tan, who is Deputy Chief Minister, remains in the state cabinet of Datuk Musa Aman. He is widely expected to register a new party or take up an existing local party to seek membership in Barisan with former SAPP members unhappy with the pullout. - The Star
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