Sabah divisions pick new state chief for KL meet

An overwhelming number of the 23 active divisions in Sabah PKR have settled on one name, a divisional chief, to be put forward as their next state chief.

The procedure complies with the party constitution which provides for the manner in which the state chief should be appointed by the president.

It is not known how and when the consensus, which has been documented, was reached.

Of the 25 divisions, Sepanggar and Sandakan being pro-tem committees, are not eligible to vote.

It has been learnt that the signatures of the Tuaran, Tawau, Semporna, Kalabakan, Ranau and Kudat divisional chiefs will not be on the documentation.

Libaran and Silam are yet to sign up but were among those that signed the Sept 20, 2009 memorandum along with Kudat.

The tip-off on the new consensus came from former deputy state chief Daniel John Jambun who now co-ordinates the Inanam state seat.

Political merry go round

However, he declined to disclose the proposed name.

"Let the party president make the announcement," he said. "The special meeting yesterday agreed that she should make the announcement.

However, we don't want the husband (Anwar Ibrahim) making the decision and the wife (Wan Azizah Wan Ismail) merely announcing what he had decided."

Jambun dropped a strong hint when he drew Malaysiakini' s attention to the 16 division chiefs who signed a no confidence resolution on Oct 7 against Azmin Ali (right) as the Sabah state chief.

The Oct 7 brief also unanimously picked Keningau division chief Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan, also a PKR national vice-president, for consideration by the party president as Azmin's successor.

"Whoever Kuala Lumpur appoints must be based on the consensus among leaders in Sabah," said Jambun who lost his post when Azmin was appointed state chief.

"Otherwise, this problem of leadership in Sabah will never be resolved."

Jambun expressed the hope that the party leadership in KL, de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim in particular, "will not continue to interfere in Sabah and dictate solutions to local leaders".

Asked whether Tuaran division chief Ansari Abdullah, as speculated by the local media, would be acceptable, Jambun pointed out that Ansari is not among those who signed the latest documentation for the supreme council meet.

Cards stacked against one candidate

He does not see Ansari as the solution to the problem.

"It must be remembered that Ansari too had problems in his time and that's why he was replaced by Anwar Ibrahim as the state chief for two months before Azmin came in," Jambun pointed out.

"Besides, I don't think Ansari himself would want to be the next state chief. He knows the score. If he's appointed state chief, there would be problems all over again in Sabah PKR."

Ansari has been a close confidante of Anwar since their Umno days but this has become a point against the Tuaran division chief.

Also, the crisis over Azmin's leadership in Sabah is said to have begun with Ansari having a disproportionate say in most of the decisions that the former made in the state.

This is said to have sparked off a crisis of confidence in Azmin's leadership. The end result was the 18 divisional chiefs penning the Sept 20 memorandum to the party president.

Kota Belud division chief Jalumin Samin was guarded when asked about the new documentation that names the next state chief.

"Let the party president make the announcement," said Jalumin, who moderated at the Oct 7 meeting. "We want to let the past be in the past. We hope to begin a fresh chapter soon."

No objections from the deposed

He confirmed that as the moderator, he was also the one who minuted the Oct 7 meeting.

Kitingan, when contacted in Tambunan, did not deny that the divisional chiefs had reached consensus on the next state chief.

"I don't want to say too much," said Kitingan. "You better ask the divisional chiefs who are co-ordinating the consensus. It is better to wait for Sunday when the party president will announce the decision."

No matter what happens, he stressed, the party constitution would be the deciding factor in the choice of the next state chief.

Asked whether the Sabah consensus has been conveyed to the party president, he replied: "It should be there (in KL) before Sunday."

Informed sources in KL swear that Anwar has settled on Kalabakan division chief Hamzah Amir as the next state chief to replace Azmin.

The just-resigned Sabah state chief has to reportedly settle for the more modest post of Federal Territory state chief after Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim opposed his expressed intentions to head the party chapter in the state.

Azmin himself indicated yesterday in Kota Kinabalu during the special meet that he was tipped to be a state chief somewhere in Peninsular Malaysia.

Also, Azmin who did not turn up at the Oct 7 meeting, although invited, had instead sent word that he was agreeable to Hamzah taking over as the Sabah PKR Chief.

Wolf in sheep's clothing?

He indicated that he had communicated the matter to the party hierarchy, according to Jalumin.

Hamzah, who is a new member, is presently one of the three deputy state chiefs. The other two are Tawau Division Chief Kong Hong Ming and ex-Kuala Penyu Umno Chief John OT Ghani @ Johan.

The appointments of both Hamzah and Ghani were subjects of complaints and dispute in the Sept 20 memorandum.

Ghani, it was pointed out, was not even a division chief and should not have been appointed state deputy chief.

Hamzah's appointment as state deputy chief was opposed by the memorandum on the grounds that he's a new member of the party.

Hamzah is a brother-in-law of Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal who reportedly encouraged the former to join PKR.

This is being viewed with a great deal of suspicion by PKR members who fear that "BN component parties are fomenting the continued unrest in the party".

It was not possible for the special Sabah PKR meeting yesterday, presided over by Azmin, to put the matter of the next state chief to the vote.

Azmin, as a non-Sabahan and non-divisional chief, could not preside over a meeting of Sabahans deciding which one of them would be their next state chief.

Proving position carries weight

Some of the 25 divisions were not represented by recognized division chiefs. Others were tainted by irregularities.

However, the special meeting resolved that the party president would make the announcement in line with the provisions in the party constitution, and based on the consensus that she can gather in the state.

One point of contention in the Sabah situation is that Kitingan out-ranks all divisional chiefs as the PKR national vice-president.

This was the main complaint when Ansari held the state chief's post and presided over meetings of the divisional chiefs including Keningau which Kitingan heads.

He (Kitingan) would have been out of the equation in the state had he not been Keningau divisional chief.

Keningau is also the stronghold of his ailing elder brother Joseph Pairin who is also the Huguan Siou (paramount chief) of the Kadazan Dusun Murut as well as PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) president and deputy chief minister.

So, unless Kitingan is appointed as the next Sabah state chief, it's likely that the simmering crisis in the state chapter would continue and perhaps even erupt into open warfare.

A damaging party split and even the emergence of a new party or many leaders and members returning to BN component parties cannot be entirely ruled out.

There is a consensus that Jeffrey should return to PBS as party president and work towards a merger of all KDM parties in the BN (Barisan Nasional).

In that case, it will be goodbye to Sabah for PKR which is banking on the state and neighbouring Sarawak to seize the reins of power in Putrajaya at the next general election.

Azmin, before he was ousted unceremoniously, had explained that his mandate in Sabah would last until a one-to-one electoral pact was forged among all opposition parties in the state.

The electoral pact seems to be tied up in PKR circles with the question of who would be chief minister of Sabah under a Pakatan Rakyat state government.

The Pakatan Sabah government is expected to be helmed by PKR. In that case, the Sabah PKR state chief would be the chief minister.

Azmin appeared to throw a damper on this in a parting shot during his final press conference in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.

Citing his own case, he pointed out that although he was previously the Selangor state chief, Khalid Ibrahim was appointed as Menteri Besar.