PETALING JAYA: Several PKR leaders, from both peninsula and Sabah, have slammed party supremo Anwar Ibrahim over his role in the one-year suspension recommended to 12 Sabah leaders aligned to vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan.
To make things worse, they say, Anwar continues to remain silent in public, and allow his loyalists to manipulate the situation by not revealing the truth.
“So many conversations and incidents that took place about a year ago involving the 12 and the Sabah situation are now being given a new spin by Anwar's people. This is not good for the party,” the leaders said.
Several senior party leaders were also disappointed with Anwar for “pretending” that he was not fully aware of the peace deal that was struck on Dec 13 last year, which included not going on a witch-hunt against Jeffrey's boys.
“However behind the scenes, we know that Anwar is fully aware of what's being done to curtail the influence of the Sabah 12, and by extention, the influence of Jeffrey.
“We can only come to a conclusion that Anwar is lying. He has done this before. First it was the Sept 16 takeover, and then the alleged RM2 million offer for PKR reps to defect and now this Sabah 12 case. These just make him seem like a serial liar,” one senior leader told FMT.
The party leaders opted to remain anonymous fearing repercussion from the party, especially with the party polls to come in November.
The unfair game
Party leaders also expressed disappointment with last-minute rescheduling of the party's powerful political bureau meeting from 8pm to 2.30pm last Wednesday, the same day when the party's disciplinary committee was hearing the case against the 12 in Penampang, Sabah.
At the political bureau meeting held at the party headquarters here, it was decided that the final decision on the 12 would be made by the supreme council this Sunday. This decision was made even before the disciplinary committee had completed its hearing (which ended at 4pm on Wednesday).
The change in time also prevented Jeffrey from presenting the case for the 12 as his flight ticket was booked for the 8pm meeting.
“This is a clear sign of Anwar's boys putting up a show to ensure things are done according to the party constitution but in reality, a decision has been made to suspend the 12,” said the party leaders.
The fear among these leaders now is that the supreme council, which is controlled by Anwar, would let him take a final decision on the suspension.
“Ultimately, Anwar might once again want to have a deal with Jeffery over the future of the 12 but we are confident that any such deals will only favour Azmin and his loyalists in Sabah, not the Jeffrey group,” they added.
Anwar knew all
FMT learnt that at the political bureau meeting, party leaders such as Tian Chua, Chua Jui Meng and Fuziah Salleh had urged Anwar to stick to the peace deal and not to take action against the 12.
However, their arguments were shot down by vice-president Azmin Ali and Anwar himself, by stating that the party had agreed to the peace deal last December without knowing that the 12 had applied to form a new breakaway party.
Anwar and Azmin had argued that if they had known the 12 had gone as far as filing an application to set up a new party, they would not have agreed to the peace deal.
“This is a total lie. Anwar was fully aware of every detail of the peace deal, including the fact that these 12 would be withdrawing their application to form a new party under the peace deal.
“Chua (Jui Meng) was among those who were present when the peace deal was being ironed out at the Eastin Hotel in Petaling Jaya. He knows the truth, and so does a handful of other senior leaders. They all know that Anwar is lying,” said a party leader.
These leaders were also miffed by the reason given by Azmin to take action against the 12 when he had labelled the Sabah rebels as being without “integrity and principles” at the political bureau meeting.
“This is really funny. He calling these 12 as leaders without integrity and principles. He should ask that to himself and Anwar first,” added the party leader.
The grand plan
The 12 leaders have been subjected to disciplinary proceedings due to their role in setting up Parti Cinta Sabah last year.
The idea of the new party was mooted by some Sabah PKR leaders following a massive fallout between Jeffrey and fellow vice-president Azmin, which resulted in Jeffrey being replaced as the state chief.
However, under a peace plan inked on Dec 13 here, Jeffrey was made responsible for both Sabah and Sarawak and another person was put in charge of the state. Azmin was totally removed from the state line-up.
The peace deal also ensured that there will be no witchhunt against those who had allegedly plotted against the party at that time by aligning themselves with Jeffrey.
The sacking, or even suspension, of the 12 would result in them playing no part in the coming party polls. Their backers have seen this development as an elaborate plan hatched by Azmin and his Sabah loyalists to cut off rivals from the party.
Jeffrey yesterday warned Anwar to expect a backlash if the peace plan was torn up.
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