Jeffrey Kitingan @ HRP office (Refer Malaysiakini.com)

Moves are abroad to stitch together two Indian-based parties’ cooperation in the opposition bid to hang on to the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat with the help of East Malaysia.
And the middleman attempting this feat of cobbling together the Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRPM) and the Hindraf Makkhal Sakthi is Sabah strongman Jeffrey Kitingan.
As a first step Jeffrey apparently met with HRPM secretary-general P Uthayakumar and officials of the party for four hours yesterday on the topic helping out Pakatan Rakyat candidate Zaid Ibrahim (right).
Former Sabah PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) deputy chair Daniel John Jambun confirmed this last night in a telephone conversation with Malaysiakini.
Jeffrey, who has close ties with Zaid, could not be immediately contacted after his meet with Uthayakumar.
Jeffrey is expected to meet Zaid, also PR pro-tem chair, sometime today on the results of the meeting and return with the response to Uthayakumar.
"We had a good meeting this evening (yesterday) with Uthaya and his people at their office in Bangsar," said Daniel who assisted Jeffrey at the four-hour meeting.
"Uthaya promised to mull over Zaid’s candidacy and get back to us soon. He also needs some feedback from Zaid."
Nudging aside neutral stance
In the meantime, according to Daniel, HRPM and Hindraf are committed to remaining neutral in the Hulu S’gor by-elections.
The possibility of a change of stance on Hulu Selangor by both outfits seems quite remote at this juncture.
Uthayakumar had always had strong reservations about de facto PKR Chief Anwar Ibrahim, disclosed Daniel, "but he was willing to give Zaid the benefit of the doubt".
The meeting was set up by the Penang-based Hindraf advisor Ganesan Naragan.
Daniel claimed that both Jeffrey (left) and Uthayakumar hit it off during the meeting which is a first for both.
Jeffrey was following up on a meeting he had in Singapore last week with Hindraf chair P Waythamoorthy a day after Zaid had met the former on Hulu Selangor.
Zaid, it is learnt, was earlier scheduled to join Jeffrey at the meet with Uthayakumar but apparently both the Hindraf brothers advised that the PR chief " not enter the picture at this juncture".
Waythamoorthy, according to reliable Hindraf sources, was particularly concerned that Zaid did not embarrass himself by meeting a known hawk prematurely.
Uthayakumar said that he had learnt that the Sabah and Sarawak activists were going to hit the campaign trail in Orang Asli kampungs in Hulu Selangor.
Late yesterday morning, Jeffrey also met with several Orang Asli activists led by Persatuan Orang Asli Semenanjung Malaysia Chief Majid Suhut.
Several other Orang Asli activists including from PKR and Upko (United Pasok Momogun KadazanDusunMurut Organisation) and other Orang Asli associations were also present.
Jeffrey when contacted after the meeting confirmed that the purpose was to discuss pulling in the Orang Asli votes for Zaid.
"We are quite optimistic now that we can bank on up to at least 50 per cent of the Orang Asli votes for Zaid," said Jeffrey. "The party itself has set a modest target of 10 per cent of the Orang Asli considering they only picked up one per cent the last time."
He noted that there were conflicting reports about the actual number of registered Orang Asli voters in Hulu Selangor.
While most estimates gave an average of 1,000 registered Orang Asli voters, others reckoned it as high as 2,000 or as low as 721.
The meeting with the Orang Asli was set up after a late Tuesday night meeting the Sabah and Sarawak activists held with Dr Colin Nicholas, the Co-ordinator for the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns