Sunday November 8, 2009
Upko drops plan to include orang asli in party’s name
By RUBEN SARIO
KOTA KINABALU: The United Pasokmo-mogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation’s (Upko) plan to change its name to allow orang asli community in peninsula to join is off.
Eighteen amendments to the party constitution were adopted by 318 party delegates at its extraordinary general meeting (EGM) in Penampang near here yesterday, but notably missing was the name change proposal.
It was learnt that the party’s supreme council was unable to come to a consensus on the name change at its meeting on Thursday, hence the proposal was not tabled at the EGM.
Staying relevant: Dompok (centre) chatting with the orang asli who represented Upko members from Perak during the party’s congress in Penampang, Kota Kinabalu Saturday. Such a proposal would have called for the dropping of the words “Kadazandusun Murut” from the party’s name, thus facilitating the entry of the orang asli community from the peninsula.
It was reported that Upko wanted to broaden its multi-racial reach to include other communities like the ethnic Rungus, orang asli, as well as Chinese, Malays and Indians.
Upko secretary-general Wilfred Tanggau said the current name seemed to imply that membership was restricted to certain communities — the Kadazandusuns and the Muruts — even though the party had a multi-racial membership. He said the term pasokmomogun itself meant indigenous and was broad enough to cover all indigenous.
Among other amendments adopted by delegates at the EGM were:
> CREATION of a Majlis Molohingon or Council of Elders to serve as advisor to the party leadership;
> FORMATION of a disciplinary committee;
> RM2 life membership; and
> A MINOR change to the Upko symbol with the outline of Mount Kinabalu now set against a background of blue skies.
Upko president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, when opening the EGM earlier, said the party had to re-brand to stay relevant. Prime Minis-ter Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is scheduled to launch Upko’s national convention today.
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