KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili has defended the new appointments for the party line-up following their party polls over the past few days.
He said for example, having the first woman - Datuk Julita Majungki - to hold the secretary general position in PBS was seen as a new strategy for the party.
"Don’t look down on women as secretary generals because who knows, they might have a sharper bite," he said in his speech during the ongoing PBS congress here, Friday (July 1).
Julita, previously PBS Information Chief, is switching roles with Datuk Joniston Bangkuai, who was the secretary general.
Bangkuai lost his bid for the deputy presidency post by five votes to Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam.
Dr Joachim had amassed 339 votes to Bangkuai's 334 votes.
Ongkili said as for the Information Chief’s post which was given to Bangkuai, the role suited him more because of his vast media knowledge and networking.
Bangkuai was formerly a reporter, bureau chief and the Sabah Journalist Association chairman before he got active in politics prior to GE13 in 2013.
"Everyone has their own role to play in PBS. Each and everyone of you have your strengths and weaknesses," he said.
He said this is the new PBS and as a component to the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) political coalition, new and young faces were needed.
Earlier in his speech, Ongkili mentioned that PBS will continue to support the GRS and work side-by-side to bring Sabah to greater heights, and to face the coming general elections together.
Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor who was present during the event said the unity and relation between GRS and PBS was vital to steer the state government agendas.
He congratulated PBS for successfully holding its congress after over 30 years of establishment, and gave a special appreciation post to its founder, Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan who was also present during the event.
He said though from different political parties, they all have a long history in Sabah’s politics and that they share similar objectives which is to bring better development and to claim what constitutionally belongs to Sabah, back to Sabah as per the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
"The MA63 is not only significant to Sabah and Sarawak but the whole country because this agreement is akin to Malaysia’s birth certificate," he said.
Hajiji also promised to bring the proposal to set up a dual-partisan committee to tackle illegal immigrant woes to the state cabinet as soon as possible.
