Bung Moktar Radin meninggal dunia

KETUA Umno Sabah Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin meninggal dunia pada usia 66 tahun, kurang seminggu selepas dipilih sebagai Adun Lamag untuk penggal kedua.

Ahli Parlimen Kinabatangan enam penggal itu juga adalah pengerusi Barisan Nasional (BN) Sabah.

Anaknya, Naim Kurniawan, dalam hantaran di Facebook memaklumkan Bung menghembuskan nafas terakhir pada 1.46 pagi.

Terdahulu, beliau memaklumkan bapanya dirawat di Hospital Gleneagles di Kota Kinabalu, namun tidak dijelaskan penyakit dihidapi Bung.

Bung, bekas timbalan ketua menteri dari 2020 hingga 2023 terkenal dengan beberapa kontroversi termasuk kelantangan di Dewan Rakyat.

Selain Parlimen Kinabatangan, beliau juga mewakili DUN Lamag sejak 2020 dan kerusi itu dipertahankannya pada PRN 29 Nov lalu dengan majoriti 153 undi.

Di sebalik pelbagai kontroversi, Bung amat berpengaruh di Kinabatangan, mempertahankan kerusi itu dengan majoriti kukuh 4,330 undi pada PRU 2022.

Kali pertama kali dipilih pada 1999, Bung berkhidmat sebagai Ahli Parlimen bawah enam perdana menteri: Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Allahyarham Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib Razak, Muhyiddin Yassin, Ismail Sabri Yaakob dan Anwar Ibrahim.

Ketika berada dalam pentadbiran Sabah beliau juga memegang portfolio kerja raya.

 

Bung Moktar Radin dies at the age of 66

SABAH Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin has died at the age of 66, less than a week after being elected to a second term as Lamag assemblyman.

The six-term Kinabatangan MP was chairman of the Sabah chapters of Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN).

His son Naim Kurniawan Moktar said in a Facebook post that Bung breathed his last at 1.46am.

He had previously said that his father was being treated at Gleneagles Hospital in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Bung’s exact illness is unclear for now although he received a kidney transplant in China in 2016.

A former deputy chief minister, Bung stirred controversy on multiple occasions through the years, including one instance in 2018 when he blurted out a vulgar remark in the Dewan Rakyat.

He also drew a reprimand from then prime minister Najib Razak in 2014 for saying “long live Hitler” following Germany’s 7-1 win against Brazil in the World Cup semi-final that year.

The former Felcra chairman was standing trial on charges of receiving RM2.8 million in bribes to secure Felcra’s approval to invest RM150 million in Public Mutual unit trusts.

His second wife, Zizie Izette Abdul Samad, was accused of abetting Bung in the commission of the alleged offences. The trial is ongoing.

Despite his controversies, Bung kept a strong hold on Kinabatangan, defending his parliamentary seat with a solid 4,330-vote majority in the 2022 general election.

First elected in 1999, Bung served as an MP under six different prime ministers: Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the late Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib, Muhyiddin Yassin, Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Anwar Ibrahim.

He led Sabah Umno in the 2020 state election as the party won 11 seats and formed the state government with Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), with GRS chairman Hajiji Noor as chief minister.

However, in January 2023, the deputy chief minister led Umno to withdraw support for Hajiji in a plot dubbed the Kinabalu Move, which was also said to involve Warisan.

The move failed as Pakatan Harapan threw its support behind Hajiji and several Sabah Umno assemblymen continued backing the chief minister.

Bung led the charge for Sabah BN again in the recent state polls although the coalition put up a dismal performance, winning just six seats despite contesting 45.

He defended his Lamag seat with a slim majority of just 153 votes.

 

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