“It is MCA that should apologise to the Chinese community for taking in a party turncoat like Hiew who betrayed his voters in Luyang, who ensured his win on a DAP ticket.
“It is grossly hypocritical of Goh to slam elected representatives who left their previous parties to form new ones but remain in total silence over those who join Barisan Nasional (BN),” Siambun said in a statement today.
Siambun, who is also Warisan treasurer, advised Goh to remain calm and not to become overwhelmed by the issue of the BN candidacy for Kepayan.
“As a full-time businessman, Goh obviously does not understand the reality of political dynamics in Sabah, particularly where the younger generation is concerned.
“With the emergence of Warisan and a possible electoral pact with Pakatan Harapan and Parti Cinta Sabah, the political dynamics in the state will not be the same as two years ago.
“Now, no one is guaranteed to be a candidate for BN no matter how much that aspirant spent previously,” Siambun added.
He said top Umno leaders had shortlisted Penampang and Semporna as “must-win” seats for BN to end the threat of Warisan against Umno.
Because of this, Siambun said Penampang BN’s indecision over who the best candidates would be for the Penampang parliamentary seat and the state seats of Moyog and Kepayan was understandable.
“This may be why Goh is on an edge because he has already exhausted his resources to promote himself.
“Kepayan voters are a smart lot. They saw Goh’s potential when he had a huge amount of personal resources to spend.
“But they also want to see how he will fare against the likes of Stephen Jimbangan, who may not be as rich but is a passionate politician.”
Siambun also hit back at Goh for questioning his decision to leave PKR together with Penampang MP Darell Leiking to form Warisan.
“When Darell and I were the candidates for PKR in GE13, we campaigned on the slogan of ‘Change’ and we explained to the voters what PKR stood for.
“We brought along top PKR leaders to Penampang several times because we wanted the voters to know first-hand how change would look like under PKR.
“When we formed Warisan, again we carried out year-long house-to-house visits in Penampang to promote and inform the voters what Warisan was all about and what the party wanted to achieve.
“There is no issue at all about us leaving PKR because we do not attack our former party the way some who ditched their previous party did when joining BN.”
Siambun asked if Goh had conducted house-to-house visits to explain to the people, particularly the Kadazan voters, the significance of MCA to the community and how the party could bring change to Sabah.
“As far as I know, MCA was annihilated in GE13. So, Goh should take the trouble to explain to the Kepayan folks how MCA will fare this time,” he said.