Ansari: 18 did sign memo to remove Azmin Ali

Ex-Sabah PKR chief Ansari Abdullah was a man of few words after a controversial memorandum signed by 18 rebel divisional chiefs was read out to him Tuesday night.

He conceded that the 18 had indeed signed the memo dated Sept 20, which was critical of Sabah state chief Azmin Ali, and sent it to party president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

"When I asked around, many divisional chiefs denied that they signed the memorandum," claimed Ansari, the Tuaran Division chief.

"Now, we hear their signatures are on the memorandum. If they signed it, they should just say that they signed it.

Ansari ( left ) was, however, relieved to know no names were mentioned in the memo as to the possible replacements for Azmin as Sabah state chief.

It merely contained steps to be taken by Azizah in accordance with the party constitution to replace Azmin, who is also Gombak MP and the Bukit Antarabangsa state assemblyperson, both seats in Selangor.

It suggested Azmin be persuaded by Azizah to voluntarily relinquish his position as Sabah state chief. In the event of his failure to leave voluntarily, it calls for Azizah to dismiss him summarily in accordance with the provisions of the party constitution to allow a new leader to be elected.

It also implied the possibility of a no-confidence motion by Sabah divisional chiefs against Azmin. This implied threat was carried out subsequently at a meeting of 16 divisional chiefs in Kota Kinabalu on Oct 7.

The memo outlined the reasons why Azmin deserves to be sacked. The thrust of the complaints against Azmin, Ansari learnt, was his style of rubber-stamping "party decisions" and bulldozing his way through everything.

'Azmin is no Anwar'

It appeared that he did not consult divisional chiefs and instead relied on one or two Anwar contacts in the state to help him make decisions.

The names of the Anwar contacts were not mentioned in the memo. But there are no prizes for guessing that Ansari is one of those mentioned.

Ansari could not be drawn in to respond to the possibility of being one of Anwar's contacts or admit that he could be one of those targeted by the 18 divisional chiefs.

The party constitution, according to the memo, states that the state chief should be elected by majority votes of the 25 divisional chiefs and the appointment accordingly endorsed by the party president. The state chief should be one of the divisional chiefs.

Azmin ( right ), the memo notes, is not only not a divisional chief, he was not elected by the divisional chiefs and his appointment was not endorsed by the party president as provided under the constitution.

Instead, he was appointed by de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim who held the post of state chief temporarily for two months after Ansari had to step down amidst a party rebellion. Azmin is no Anwar, the memorandum implied, "status-wise".

Ansari expressed no objections to the steps outlined for removing Azmin and replacing him with a new state chief. However, he did not say if he was in favour of removing Azmin.

No crisis in the party

Ansari did not say either if he agreed or disagreed with the litany of complaints against Azmin. He listened in silence as the rest of the memo was read out to him.

He then said: "The contents of the memo are an example of democratic expression by the divisional chiefs. They have a right to express themselves, whether we agree or disagree with them."

Ansari does not see the memo causing a crisis in the party as portrayed by the media.

"We are disappointed that the media has painted the picture of a party in crisis," said Ansari. "In any party there is bound to be views expressed. These differences must not be interpreted as a crisis."

Earlier, Ansari had sent a second email to malaysiakini : "Can you email me the Hari Raya memo from Kumpulan 18 or at least the signatures so that we can find out who is that ‘someone who is lying'?"

This was an apparent reference to PKR vice-president Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan's ( above ) remarks in the local papers on Sunday when he was told that Ansari had denied the existence of the memo and having held a meeting on Oct 7 in Kota Kinabalu to discuss it further.

Jeffrey had responded: "If he (Ansari) had denied then someone is lying."

In his first email, Ansari wrote: "Please refer to Lateefa Koya 's (information chief) press release which confirms that there was no memo tabled. If there is, kindly let me have sight of the same."

Ansari's new take on the press release is that "perhaps the contents of the memo were discussed during Azmin's briefing on Sabah to the National Political Bureau last Tuesday".

He agreed that it could be a matter of semantics whether the memo was tabled or discussed. "You must remember that it is the work of the information chief to go into damage control mode when there is negative reporting in the media on the party," said Ansari.

Ansari's interest in the contents of the memo became clearer yesterday morning. It was learnt from reliable sources in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu that he and two east coast divisional chiefs flew to Kuala Lumpur early Tuesday morning to meet with Anwar. Apparently, they wanted disciplinary action to be taken against the 18 divisional chiefs who signed the memo.

It appears that Anwar was "busy". He referred them to Salehuddin Hashim, the PKR secretary-general who is no fan of Azmin. The visiting party from KK met with Salehuddin about mid-day but it is not known what transpired during their meeting.

Speculation is rife that the role of Kota Belud Division chief Jalumin Samin, Kimanis Division chief Awang Tengah and Putatan Division chief Awang Ahmad Shah "in keeping the pot boiling in Sabah PKR" were discussed.

Attempts by malaysiakini to contact Salehuddin ( left ) at his office were unsuccessful. Ansari, too, could not be immediately reached for comments.

This morning there were two emails from Ansari: "I was in KK since Monday but yesterday, I was in Sandakan for a court case."

An earlier email read: "I did not see or talk to our secretary-general since August."

Meanwhile, it was reliably learnt that Azmin will be in Kota Kinabalu sometime today (Oct 22). It is not known if he will hold a meeting of the divisional chiefs.

He will convene a special meeting at 2 pm, according to state deputy chief Kong Hong Ming who informed the media in a press release. Jonathan Yasin is the Sabah PKR information chief and Ronnie Klassen the director of communications.

But it appears that all divisional chiefs have been informed by Kong as well, about the special meeting, according to the Libaran divisional chief Ahmad Thamrin, who is also the Sabah PKR secretary.

Jeffrey had no knowledge of Azmin's visit. "I don't know of any meeting," said Kitingan. "I don't think many divisional chiefs know either. Otherwise, they would have contacted me."

He said he would attend a meeting if invited and that his three month's sabbatical leave, which began in mid-Oct, is only from the National Political Bureau where he represents Sabah.