PETALING JAYA: Controversial Umno veteran 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.
A former deputy chief minister, Bung had stirred controversy on multiple occasions through the years, including one instance in 2018 when he angrily blurted out a vulgar remark in the Dewan Rakyat.
He had also drawn a reprimand from then prime minister Najib Razak in 2014 after 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, is accused of abetting Bung in the commission of the alleged offences. The trial is ongoing.
Despite his controversies, Bung managed to keep a strong hold on Kinabatangan, and even defended his parliamentary seat with a solid 4,330-vote majority in the 2022 general election.
First elected in 1999, Bung had 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 then formed the state government with Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), with GRS chairman Hajiji Noor appointed chief minister.
However, in January 2023, the deputy chief minister led Umno in withdrawing support for Hajiji, in a plot dubbed the Kinabalu Move which was said to also involve Warisan.
This move failed as Pakatan Harapan threw its support behind Hajiji and several Sabah Umno assemblymen continued backing the chief minister.
Bung led the charge again for Sabah BN in the recent state polls as the coalition put up a dismal performance, winning just six seats despite contesting for 45.
He had defended his Lamag seat with a very slim majority of just 153 votes.
