Pairin says suiting up for last time at GE
Pairin (right) has been involved in politics since 1975.—File picKOTA KINABALU, Sept 22 — The 13th general election will be the last that Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, who is also the president of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), will be contesting as a candidate.
He said that it was tiring to carry out the responsibilities of an elected representative.
“In the subsequent general election (14th), I won’t be contesting. So, everyone must be happy with this decision,” he told reporters after launching the State-level Shell Traffic Education Programme 2012, here today.
Pairin, 72, who is the member of parliament for Keningau and the state assemblyman for Tambunan, has been active in politics since 1975.
When asked by reporters whether he would be defending his parliamentary and state assembly seats, he replied in jest: “It looks like it!”
In another development, Pairin expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on the handing over of the instruments of appointment in Putrajaya yesterday to the Chairman and members of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to tackle the problems of illegal immigrants in Sabah.
The commission comprises former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong as the Chairman, and the secretary, Datuk Saripuddin Kasim who is also the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism.
The others were former Universiti Malaysia Sabah vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Kamaruzaman Ampon, former Sabah Attorney-General Tan Sri Herman Luping, former state secretary Datuk KY Mustafa and the Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation deputy chairman, who was also former Kuala Lumpur Police Chief, Datuk Henry Chin Poy Wu. — Bernama
