KOTA KINABALU: A war of words erupted during the debate session in the Sabah state assembly on Monday when a former Parti Warisan leader brought up the issue of party hopping.
Datuk Rina Jainal (Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS)-Kukusan) said that when she left Warisan (to join Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah which is part of GRS), she was slammed by her former teammates and supporters who called her a “frog” (defector).
“(But at the same time) they did so without reflecting how the party managed to assume power as the state government,” she said, referring to the aftermath of the 2018 general election.
She claimed that her sacrifices as protem Wirawati chief of the Kalabakan division were also forgotten.
“It’s okay, I will continue as a leader even though the best decision is not necessarily a popular one,” she added, when debating the state Budget 2025 tabled by the state Finance Minister last week.
This drew the ire of Sarifuddin Hata (Warisan-Merotai) who requested Deputy Speaker Datuk Richard Yong We Kong to instruct Rina to withdraw her statement, which he said had “bad assumptions”, under (SO) Standing Order 43.6 which states no other member shall impute improper motives to any other member.
But Rina continued with her speech, ignoring Sarifuddin who kept citing the SO and the Deputy Speaker who had asked her to stop talking.
When she finally relented to Yong’s instruction, Sarifuddin said he wanted Rina to withdraw her statement that her contributions were not appreciated, noting that Warisan had given her the opportunity to stand as a candidate in the 2020 Sabah polls which she won.
Rina said she had nothing to pull back on, adding her sacrifices were forgotten when she switched allegiance to back the GRS-led state government.
Sarifuddin asked the Deputy Speaker to remind Rina that she should only stick to debating the state Budget, to which Rina retorted that her elaboration would eventually lead her there.
“You don’t need to elaborate, people out there know who is the frog, who is the traitor. There is no need for you to elaborate to show ‘I am the best’ (so) just keep to the budget debate,” he said to Sarifuddin, as Rina was speaking over him at the same time.
Yong then asked Rina to “calm down” before reminding her to only debate the budget.
Datuk Junz Wong (Warisan-Tanjung Aru) then also stood and cited a SO that held that a member should not introduce irrelevant matters during the session, to which Yong again reminded Rina to just make her point.
“That is why I’m going there,” she said, raising her voice before Justin Wong (Warisan-Sri Tanjong) stood up and asked what sacrifices had she made after joining the government when she was awarded a Datuk title.
Rina then responded: “Excuse me, this is my floor. Did Datuk (Deputy) Speaker give the way for Sri Tanjong to stand up now?”
Wong said: “I only want an explanation, what have you sacrificed?”
Yong then told both assemblymen to sit down and reiterated to all members not to divert their speeches to matters other than the budget.
When allowed to continue her speech, Rina said the government of the day has shown an openness including the Opposition.
She said some were allowed to join and become part of the state Cabinet and enjoy government allocation.
“We don’t need the anti-party hopping law if these allocations could be given equally among government and opposition assemblymen who need to manage their own constituencies.
“We have gone through many (political) episodes. I think it’s about time the government views this from a bigger perspective.
“Not only thinking about domination of power but the needs of the people at the grassroots level who have chosen their leaders, that is my point,” said Rina.
