Bumburing To Make Important Announcement On Future Political Plan On Sunday

KOTA KINABALU, July 23 (Bernama) -- United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) deputy president Datuk Seri Wilfred Bumburing, who has been rumoured to be ditching Barisan Nasional (BN) to join Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) for quite some time, today resigned as BN chairman for Tuaran amidst new speculation that a snap general election is likely to be called in September this year.

"I have hereby effective today, July 23, 2012, resigned from the post as Barisan Nasional chairman for P170, Tuaran. My resignation will enable the new BN leadership of Tuaran to make preparation for the coming 13th general election," said Bumburing in his resignation letter, which was made available to the press, here, today.

Bumburing, a former state cabinet minister, also thanked the BN leadership for having the confidence in him leading BN Tuaran all this while.

His letter of resignation was sent by facsimile to the BN headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to the attention of the BN secretary-general as well as to the office of the Sabah BN chairman.

The Tuaran MP also sent a copy of his resignation letter to UPKO president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok and party secretary-general Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau.

However, Bumburing did not provide or state the reasons for relinquishing the post.

Meanwhile, in his brief statement, Bumburing said he would be making an important announcement with regard to the future direction of his political struggle during a special gathering in Dalit, Tuaran this Sunday at 1pm.

In the 2008 general election, Bumburing was fielded instead of then incumbent Madius Tangau. Bumburing polled 17,645 votes to retain the Tuaran seat for BN with a 6,622-vote majority against his nearest rival Ansari Abdullah of PKR, who garnered 11,023 votes. Independent candidate, Ajin Hazin Gagah, lost his deposit when he only managed 879 votes.

A couple of weeks ago, Bumburing, the man at the centre of a tug-of-war between the ruling BN coalition and the opposition, had denied he planned to leave his party ahead of the 13th general election.

Bumburing together with Umno Beaufort division chief Datuk Lajim Ukin have for months kept speculators on their toes.

Last month, Lajim, in celebrating his 57th birthday, had tendered his resignation as Kerambai Kebatu Umno branch chief and said he would not seek re-election as the Beaufort Umno division chief. He is also the Beaufort MP.

Dompok was recently quoted as describing the rumour that Bumburing had quit the party as "purely rumour and speculation", designed to confuse the people ahead of the impending general election.

"He is a friend of mine and a member of the party and my deputy. I have just spoken to him and he sounded out that there was this type of things being circulated but it was not true," Dompok was also quoted as saying.