FMT EXCLUSIVE KOTA KINABALU: PKR vice-president Jeffery Kitingan is keeping his options open on his place in the opposition party.
"If it is in the best interest of Sabah and Sabahans" he would leave the party without hesitation, the maverick politician said in an interview with FMT over the weekend.
In a sign that he is in two minds about his situation, PKR's top man for Sabah and Sarawak, did not attend the PKR annual congress in Kota Baru, Kelantan, which ended yesterday.
Jeffrey, instead attended the state-level harvest festival celebrations at the Hongkod Koisaan (headquarters of the powerful Kadazandusun Cultural Association) in Penampang near here on Sunday.
The younger brother of Sabah deputy chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan, Jeffrey was seen mingling with thousands of Kadazandusuns, Muruts and members of other communities who attended the two-day celebration which ends today.
In the exclusive interview, Jeffrey made known that he preferred to be linked to a Sabah-based political party but, thus far, PKR is his best option.
The following are excerpts from the interview:
FMT: There is this talk you will be leaving PKR, what is your comment?
If it is the wish of the majority, I will volunteer (to leave PKR).
If it is the wish of the minority?
If not (majority) then there is nothing that can be done at the moment, but to stay in PKR, lie-low like in the just concluded Sibu by-election.
What is your assessment of the situation in East Malaysia, in particular Sabah's politics?
The idea is to empower the two states and not take over power from them like what is being perceived by the people right now about the BN … and PKR too. By empowering Sabah and Sarawak, we are empowering the nation. We are reducing the burden of the central leaders.
Are you saying that PKR and Umno have failed to empower the two states in managing their own affairs?
If I speak as a party man, I will be biased. I'm talking as observant independent leader and I think what we have is mostly in name only. For instance on power of immigration, in name, yes, Sabah has that power, but look who is running the immigration for Sabah?
Likewise on the Federal Development Fund for Sabah, the fund should be left to the state to utilise but what is happening is they (federal leaders and officers) are managing it for Sabah. This is not empowering. In other areas, similar things happen. In politics, in party politics.
There have been calls for you to register a new party in Sabah. They, the federal government that is, won't allow it to be registered.
If indeed one day you leave PKR, what will be your options?
We have to work with groups of people, not in an isolation. There must be a way … options. I can work with the immediate viability.
Timing of meeting slammed
In another development, a Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) vice-president Herbert Timbon Lagadan criticised the timing of the PKR congress which coincided with the harvest festival celebrations.
He said this was an affront to local leaders in Sabah and Sarawak as the party leaders should have realised that Kaamatan and Gawai celebrations would be on at the same time.
"This act of holding the annual congress during Kaamatan and Gawai celebrations speaks volumes of PKR leaders' hegemony towards the people in East Malaysia especially the Kadazandusuns and Dayaks," he told FMT.
PBS is led by Joseph Pairin, who has denied trying to influence his younger brother to rejoin PBS to ensure the Kitingan legacy.
The PBS chief is also the 'Huguan Siou' or the paramount leader of the Kadazandusun community, a position he has held since 1984.
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