UPKO the little "Giant"

16 Ogos 2024

A leadership change is always good. Changing the leader of a political party means it will involve the shift in the overall mindset on the way the party is run, the vision and mission of the party and also the focus and drive of the party to be reflected in what the president say or commands on the behest of the whole party members.

Datuk Ewon Benedick has been United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (UPKO) President since 15 January 2023 and he is slowly stamping his mark on the people within UPKO, be it the elder statesmen of the party or the members, statistically around 160 thousand of them in Sabah and a few divisions in the peninsular.

Datuk Ewon's presence in the federal government is a testament of the progressive nature of UPKO as a whole, he is active and a workaholic and many will vouch for him being too work-focussed, hopefully he squeeze some family time in between his very packed schedules as a federal minister, a Member of Parliament and also a State Assemblyman.

The recently concluded UPKO convention held at Pusat Kebudayaan Sabah, Penampang on the 11th of August 2024 is a statement of Datuk Ewon's focus. The whole political convention was turned into a "non-political" event with the presentation of 13 motions paper of economics interests, greatly emphasising on the people, on how the party leadership can influence and change the economics of the people through GLCs involvement and programmes targetting the grassroots.

There were no mention of other political party, there were no condemnation or petty boos or slandering of other party. The Convention was strictly on developments, on people-centric focusses and a reflection of the "common sense leadership" preached by the party president himself.

For those party members who came to the convention to hear and shout about hot "topic of the town" issues, they will feel dissapointed. Yes, MA63 was one of the motion...and yes, it was a hot topic with the 40% Sabah claim, but that was just it, as the president eloquently put it, UPKO struggle is based on MA63 and the Sabah rakyat rights as enshrined in the Federal constitutions and these are the foundation for UPKO leadership and service to the people.

Datuk Ewon also emphasised on the "whole team approach" on advancement of entreprenuers and education to help the grassroots with the synergy of all the government bodies that UPKO members are involved in the government.

Gone are the shouting contests and name-calling or the slandering stuff in a party convention, go to an UPKO convention, you will be feted with economics and development presentations.

Some will say it was boring and tedious, but it was better and more beneficial than your normal "other party bashing" in other conventions. Bring up your people in the kampung, the state will prosper, show them ways to do things right, and they will bring up a new generation of Sabahan fighting the Sabahan Fight with pride and honour.

As Datuk Ewon loudly proclaimed, 'we are stronger together!!' I sat down and went through the whole convention and realised that UPKO is a "little party" with a GIANT's mentality.

Adrian Dominic

Secretary UPKO Putatan