Don’t blame others, Pairin told

KOTA KINABALU: Former minister Tham Nyip Shen has accused his one-time boss in Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) Joseph Pairin Kitingan of being a weak leader.

Tham said Pairin was now floundering around, accusing others for allowing Umno to enter state politics and overthrow his party in 1994.

Pairin has come under attack this week by his former colleagues in the party, Yong Teck Lee and Tham, for attempting to blame others for pulling PBS out of the Barisan Nasional (BN) in 1990.

The matter came up after former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said in his memoirs, “A Doctor in the House”, published recently, that it was a mistake for PBS to have pulled out of BN on the eve of the general election.

Tham said Pairin was ignoring the troubled history of the party and putting the blame on others for the downfall of the PBS government and paving the way for peninsula-based political parties to take over the state government.

“I fail to see why Pairin, being a senior leader, still comes up with so many excuses to cover up his mistake of pulling PBS out of BN at that time.

“I am sure way back in 1985, he already felt very bitter when after winning the election in the same year, PBS was not allowed to form the state government.

“We were all thankful to Musa Hitam (former deputy prime minister) that with his help, PBS finally got to form the state government.

“Today, for any remaining PBS leaders who were with him (Pairin) at that time to conveniently choose to forget the collective decision made then, and to start putting the blame on others is simply wrong and inglorious.

“I feel so sorry that despite being the president of PBS since 1985, he is still unable to set the official records straight,” said Tham.

Setting record straight

Tham was responding to a recent statement made by PBS vice-president Radin Malleh, implicating him (Tham) and two former high-ranking PBS leaders – Yong, who is now opposition party SAPP leader and Bernard Dompok, president of Upko – for the decision to pull out from BN on the eve of the 1990 general election.

Radin was commenting on Mahathir’s musings, in his recently published book, that Pairin lost the opportunity to develop Sabah the moment he decided to pull out from the BN just before the 1990 general election.

“Although Pairin was already pushed to the wall, he remained loyal to BN until an emergency PBS supreme council meeting held on Oct 15, 1990, where he was forced to agree to pull out from BN by Yong and Tham, supported by Dompok.

“These three people were very adamant to get out from BN,” said Radin in defence of his boss who is also the Huguan Siou (overall chief) of the Kadazandusun community.

Tham said that though he was no longer a member of any political party, it was his duty and responsibility to come forward and set the records straight, since as he has been implicated in the affair.

“I feel that misplacing the facts in the PBS official records is not only unfair to me and those who were involved at that time, but also to our future generations,” he said.

He maintained that PBS had misjudged in leaving BN in 1990, citing a prediction by former Gerakan

president, Dr Lim Chong Eu.

He recalled that when Pairin was about to make the announcement that fateful night, Lim was desperately trying to contact Pairin to advise him to rethink the decision.

He said that Lim even got his then political secretary and current Gerakan leader, Koh Tsu Koon, to contact him (Tham) to tell Pairin what the drastic consequences would be if PBS pulled out.

“And despite the fact that PBS signed a confederation with Gerakan at that time, the advice was ignored. The announcement was made and the rest is history,” said Tham.

Not consulted

Tham also said he was not even in the PBS supreme council when the party pulled out of BN.

“I was in Sandakan when it happened. I was never told nor consulted over the decision, nor was I in any meeting that decided it.

“In fact, I had even in a number of private discussions with other PBS leaders voiced my view against pulling out of BN before the incident.

“These leaders are still around,” he said.

Tham, a former deputy chief minister, also poured scorn on Radin’s claim that Pairin had remained loyal to BN till the last moment, although the federal leadership at that time did not favour the party.

“If that’s indeed the case, why then it took almost 12 years – long, long after the three of us had left the party – before it (PBS) rejoined BN?” he asked.

PBS rejoined BN in 2002 with the help of Chong Kah Kiat, who was former Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president. Chong was also the chief minister at the time.

Tham also said that after leaving PBS, before the election in January, 1994, both he and Yong had gone on to form SAPP (Sabah Progressive Party) and joined BN while Dompok formed Parti Demokratik Sabah (PDS), the precursor to Upko, and both also joined BN in the same year.