FULL REPORT KOTA KINABALU: Sabah strongman Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan told a hushed press conference hastily convened here this afternoon that he wasn’t going for any national post in the imminent PKR elections. The local media, judging by their reactions, appeared not to have anticipated his bolt from the blue.
“I would like to thank all those who nominated me for the post of national vice-president,” said Jeffrey. “However, I would like to confirm that I won’t be accepting the nominations. I am staying out of the race for any national party post.”
He was flanked by several senior Sabah PKR leaders led by staunch supporter deputy state chief Christina Liew Chin Jin Hadhikusumo who was close to tears over the announcement which, in her words, took her aback.
Jeffrey said that his struggle had “never been about party posts or positions”. It had always been and would continue to be about Sabah and Sarawak rights and autonomy, he added. “This is a struggle that cuts across the political divide in Sabah and Sarawak and it could do without any distractions.”
He appeared to be suggesting a subtle shift in his current position from party politician to that of a statesman for Sabah and Sarawak “while re-capturing the moral high ground on what his politics is all about”.
He said that the debilitating struggle for party posts every three years and in-between, for no rhyme or reason, was an unnecessary pre-occupation which was draining resources, taxing energies and “a major distraction from the real issues, principles and priorities that concern the people in Sabah and Sarawak”. These were the areas, in his judgment, that would translate into votes for any party “and not just winning a post or position in a way that damages the party”.
Besides, said Jeffrey, he had already been national vice-president and sees no point in hogging, at his age, a relatively junior and powerless post and to continue to be bogged down by a situation where “no one listens to you”.
He pointed out that he had even given up the national vice-president’s post late last year when he made his “burnt my bridge” statement and went on a sabbatical for three months. At that time, Jeffrey’s major grouse was that the PKR headquarters “did not respect the democratic voice of the majority in Sabah”.
“I have seen what one can do as a national vice-president which is very little,” said Jeffrey. ‘No one listens to anyone in the supreme council and being a vice-president makes no difference.”
Major differences
Asked whether this meant that the political interests of Sabah and Sarawak don’t coincide with that of Peninsular Malaysia, he conceded that there were “major differences but nothing that cannot be resolved”.
“Of course, they (Peninsular Malaysia) have their politics and we have ours,” said Jeffrey. “But we can still work together as genuine partners on the agenda for change and reform. Malaysia is still one country.”
On the election process underway in PKR, he said that “it would be kinder not to comment”.
However, he said he understood, and even accepted, that no system was without faults but the question was whether one was willing to accept them and even look the other way.
He declined to elaborate but said that “we (PKR) need to do some serious soul-searching here and everyone should examine his or her conscience on the subject”.
He pledged his support for Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar “should she decide to contest the post of deputy president and Pakatan Rakyat co-ordinator Zaid Ibrahim stays out”. Nurul is the daughter of Opposition Leader and de facto PKR chief Anwar Ibrahim.
Jeffrey’s vote was also for Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Anwar’s wife, to continue as party president.
“Having a mother-daughter team to head a political party is a unique situation but in this particular case, it can be viewed as something positive for the party,” said Jeffrey. “It’s a one-off phenomenon, perhaps never again to be repeated for a very long time.”
Attracting the young generation
On Nurul, he said that PKR was a relatively new party with not many seniors and that the young should be brought into the party hierarchy to attract the four million new voters of their generation.
Although Jeffrey did not say it, the local media has been abuzz with speculation for some weeks now that the recent suspension of three of his key division chiefs and warning letters to nine others, “had revealed the true character of Anwar”.
However, it’s unlikely that the fate of Jeffrey’s 12 disciples – otherwise known as the Dirty Dozen to his political foes in the party – was the one factor that turned him away from the quest for a national post. The Sabah 12 appears to be, for Jeffrey at least, water under the bridge.
The local media suspected that “something was amiss” when a Sabah PKR meeting last night unanimously resolved that Jeffrey should be the chief spokesman for a six-man committee to a pow-wow with other Sabah Pakatan component parties on the forthcoming Batu Sapi by-election.
Their decision appeared to indicate that they were aware, albeit belatedly, that continuing to isolate Jeffrey from Sabah PKR “has its limits” before injuring the party’s chances grievously in the state.
The majority of the six-man committee comprised division chiefs who had bitterly opposed him in the past, alleging that he was in cahoots with “certain national leaders”.
It was learnt that Jeffrey did not object to the appointment. But it was not immediately clear whether his heart was in the task assigned to him by the party. The appointment no doubt goes against his oft-repeated stance that his struggle was not about party posts and positions.
With Jeffrey out of the race, it’s anyone guess who will emerge as the next best favourite to represent Sabah and Sarawak at the top of the party hierarchy.
Earlier, Jeffrey had even been tipped to win as the vice-president with the most number of votes, given the substantial Dusun and Dayak membership in the party. He’s also popular with the Indian, Chinese and Orang Asli party members in Peninsular Malaysia and among supporters of Wan Azizah, Nurul, Zaid and Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim.
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