KIMANIS POLLS | Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong has rubbished Bung Moktar Radin's "sudden concern" for constitutional amendments to restore special rights to Sabah and Sarawak, saying that the latter had impeded the equal partnership legislation when it came to a parliamentary vote.

"In recent days, Bung has been clamouring for the constitutional amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution spearheaded by Warisan in April 2019 to restore the status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners in the federation.

"It is nauseating that only in the days leading to the Kimanis by-election has Bung received sudden enlightenment on the significance of Article 1(2) and its importance to Sabah and Sarawak,' Liew (above), who is de facto law minister, said in a statement today.

He said that previously, the Kinabatangan MP had neither "batted an eye, much less spoken a word" on the value of the amendment.

"But today, prior to a by-election, suddenly he is concerned.

"I remind Bung that he is among the Umno-BN MPs, all of whom defeated the constitutional amendment bill on April 9, 2019, without remorse.

"He prevented Sabah and Sarawak from enjoying equal partnership in the federation, betraying in a heartbeat the trust millions placed in him to represent the genuine interests of Borneans in Parliament," Liew added.

He then trained his guns on Bung's (above) fellow Umno MPs Khairy Jamaluddin and former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, saying that their display of concern in being overnight champions of Borneo rights was a "distasteful pretence" and reeked of hypocrisy as they had done nothing while holding power, and proceeded to impede its progress while in opposition.

"Whereas, in a mere 21 months of helming the state and nation, Warisan with the assistance of Pakatan Harapan stands a mere stone’s throw away from implementing the MA63 and restoring the status of Sabah and Sarawak in the federation.

"This is an achievement that would never have been possible with Umno-BN in power and plundering the nation’s coffers in the billions," Liew said.

The Kimanis by-election on Jan 18 will see a straight fight between Warisan's Karim Bujang and BN's Mohamad Alamin.

Bung, who shed tears when he announced the candidature of the latter, is spearheading the Umno-BN campaign.