He said it was normal for visitors to pay respect to their host, but Umno and BN had insulted the local Christmas tradition by lodging a police report about a function organised in Membakut recently.

“They come to Kimanis and by right, they should respect us, am I right? Although the indigenous Kadazan, Dusun and Murut (KDM) ethinc groups are among the poor, we still have dignity and heart.

“We don’t need to be insulted by them. We didn’t take their money. The celebration was held from the collection raised by the local church groups and the local community,” he said at Bongawan Estate here today.

Anthony was referring to a police report lodged by the Beaufort Umno Youth over a banquet and lucky draw held during Christmas and New Year celebrations in Membakut on Saturday.

The festivity was held on the same day as the nomination day for the Kimanis by-election and was attended by Sabah Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal and other leaders.

Anthony said the KDMs must teach Umno-BN a lesson by denying them a victory in the  by-election.

“Umno-BN is the most useless party … each time there’s an election they would visit and give everyone RM50. Who do they think we are? We should not vote for them. They should just stay there in Peninsular Malaysia. They need to know that only a Sabahan knows Sabah better. Not them,” he said.

He also took a swipe at the opposition PBS for “allowing” over 325,000 illegal immigrants to remain in Sabah when it held the state government.

“These migrants have expanded and perhaps now it is their grandchildren who are residing in Sabah. What did they do when they were in power? And now, when the present government is trying to deal with the problem by giving them the Temporary Sabah Pass, PBS rejects it,” he said.

Anthony said the PSS was not a step towards granting citizenship but a measure to detain and repatriate illegal immigrants, by identifying the PSS holders from those who do not have documents at all.