Azmin's 'quit' bombshell as Sabah chief

Embattled Sabah PKR chief Azmin Ali has announced that he's quitting his post with immediate effect after hardly months on the job.

He dropped the bombshell during a special meeting of division chiefs, the women's and youth wing in Kota Kinabalu this afternoon, according to insiders.

The meeting which started at 2pm lasted two hours, followed by a press conference. However, the official announcement will be made after the PKR supreme council meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

It is not known who will be picked to head the Sabah chapter. An Oct 7 meeting in Kota Kinabalu attended by 16 division chiefs put forward PKR vice-president Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan's name to be the new state chief. Jeffrey is also the Keningau division chief.

Azmin, however, tempered his quit announcement by disclosing that his departure from Sabah would be part of a nationwide reshuffle of state chiefs including Sarawak, Penang and Perlis, among others.

He hinted that he would be appointed a state chief somewhere in Peninsular Malaysia. Azmin is also Gombak MP and state assemblyperson for Bukit Antarabangsa. Both seats are in Selangor.

In neighbouring Sarawak, the meeting learnt, the national leadership had decided to appoint lawyer and land rights activist Baru Bian as the new state chief. He will replace Mustaffa Kamil Ayub from Perak who was appointed in May this year.

Azmin, it is learnt, began the special meet with a lengthy speech defending his leadership and decisions in recent months.

He pointed out that his tenure in Sabah had always been intended to be temporary.

"At times, he was exceptionally defensive and at other times he was restrained," said one insider. "We just listened in silence since we had a feeling he was going anyway."

Then he told those assembled that this would be his last meeting and that he was quitting with immediate effect. The leadership in Kuala Lumpur, he disclosed, was aware of his quit decision.

Azmin's defends his decisions

State deputy chief Kong Hong Ming spoke briefly after Azmin, stressing on the need for unity and discipline.

"There is no crisis. That's what I told the meeting," said Kong. "I requested them to use existing channels to air their grievances. There was no need to run to the media all the time. This might be misunderstood by the people."

Azmin chaired discussions on two items on the agenda, viz. the memorandum signed by 18 division chiefs calling for his removal, and the role of the media in the crisis in Sabah PKR.

"Azmin told us all there was indeed a memorandum signed by 18 division chiefs against his leadership," said one insider. "At least, that ended the speculation that there was no such memorandum."

Kong confirmed that Azmin had disclosed the existence of the memorandum of the 18 division chiefs which he (Azmin) "viewed in a positive light".

Azmin, however, took issue briefly with the way his leadership style was presented to party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

"It's not often possible to consult everybody on every little issue," Azmin told the meetiing. He did not touch on decisions he had made solo or in consultation with one or two division chiefs.

As a case in point, he showed the meeting, suggestions that had been made by Jeffrey and which had been adopted by him.

It is learnt that all 25 divisions were represented, a handful not by their division chiefs. Earlier, about half the division chiefs turned up at the Kota Kinabalu Airport to welcome Azmin.

A press conference hosted by Azmin after the meeting was a relatively tame affair. Briefly, he repeated most of what had transpired during the meeting.

Azmin confirmed that he had indeed read the memorandum against his leadership. "I have never denied the existence of the memorandum," he said, distancing himself from divisional chiefs who had told the local media that the memorandum does not exist.

Muslim to be appointed next chief?

Asked whether he was quitting as Sabah state chief, Azmin quickly denied it and added, in a contradiction in terms, that "a new state chief will be announced on Sunday in KL after the supreme council meet".

Azmin dismissed talk that a Muslim would be appointed as the next Sabah state chief. He pointed out that PKR was a multiracial party and that anyone could be chosen to lead the party.

Speculation has been rife in Sabah that de facto party leader Anwar Ibrahim ( below ) is pushing for a Muslim to be the next Sabah state chief on the grounds that "the Muslims now form a clear majority in Sabah". Many PKR members dispute this and point out that there are many in Sabah with dubious MyKads.

On whether Tuaran division chief Ansari Abdullah - the fourth state chief who was removed amidst a party revolt - would be appointed as his replacement, Azmin declined to answer and reiterated that the announcement would be made by the party president.

"Our president is a capable leader who took us from just a few seats to being the largest opposition party in Parliament today," pointed out Azmin. "She's more than capable of making the right decision."

Azmin confirmed that many divisional chiefs were in favour of choosing the next state chief. A minority, he said, want the party president to make the ultimate decision. However, it was not possible to put the matter to vote since not all divisions are qualified to vote as some are tainted by irregularities. So, there seems to be a deadlock on the method of choosing the next Sabah state chief.

It is not known whether the Oct 7 resolution will be taken into consideration. The 16 divisional chiefs have no problems with the legality of their position.

Jeffrey Kitingan, who was present during the press conference, told the media that he "would accept any decision made by the party president in line with democratic principles and the party constitution".