Informal talks have begun in earnest in recent days between some 14-odd rebel PKR divisions aligned to former party vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan and Sabah Peoples Progressive Party (Sapp) leaders.

yong teck lee sabah sapp party pc 230409 02 Sapp president Yong Teck Lee ( left ), Youth chief Edward Dagul and deputy state speaker Frankie Chong, still with Sapp, are among those who have so far been involved in talks with the PKR division leaders, according to former PKR state secretary Kanul Gindul.

“I sent Yong a short text message outlining some ideas and he quickly called and suggested meeting for coffee,” disclosed Kanul, who was once Jeffrey’s political secretary and later became a publicist for him.

“Yong is in favour of teaming up with Jeffrey. But mostly, he wanted to hear what I had to say.”

The talks centre around how both parties can work together on Sabah rights - the main issue that binds them together.

Kanul, who quit PKR just before the general elections last year, did not say that he has a mandate from PKR but stressed that Jeffrey has no objections to him holding informal talks with Sapp leaders.

“Jeffrey’s position in PKR has become increasingly untenable. That’s why he issued the ‘burnt my bridges’ statement in the media. There’s no going back for him,” acknowledged Kanul.

anwar sodomy 2 duta court hearing pkr leaders 080709 13 “Only exceptional political courage on the part of Anwar Ibrahim – PKR party advisor – will delay Jeffrey leaving the party by mid-January when his sabbatical leave ends.”

Dagul was extremely guarded when Malaysiakini contacted him but he did venture to concede that he “saw no problems working together with the PKR divisions aligned with Jeffrey but there must be some give-and-take”.

The other Sapp leaders mentioned by Kanul - Yong and Chong - were not immediately available for comment.

Jeffrey, when contacted, did not deny that PKR division chiefs had been actively engaged with Sapp leaders over the last two months.

NONE “I am meeting more people than usual these days including various other Sapp leaders,” admitted Jeffrey. “We will certainly work with Sapp in facing the next general election together.”

However, he ruled out the idea of him joining Sapp for now. He denied that a suitable post for him in the party is the sticking point since all senior positions have been taken. Instead, he sees an umbrella group emerging – most likely a Pakatan Rakyat Sabah – to bring both Sapp and the PKR divisions under one common platform.

“We have to find a suitable platform for the majority of the PKR divisions, who have now been pushed into the political cold by Kuala Lumpur,” said Jeffrey. “We can still be affiliated to Pakatan Rakyat, and even PKR in KL.”

Jeffrey sees no issues here although Sapp, which pulled out from BN last year, has refused to join Pakatan Rakyat but is willing to forge an electoral pact with the opposition alliance.

Nothing has been finalised, according to Jeffrey, and “everything will become clearer within the next three weeks”.

Political temperature high

Jeffrey resigned on Wednesday as PKR vice-president and from the supreme council and the national political bureau. However, he remains Keningau division chief.

The issue came to moot when the supreme council did not appoint Jeffrey as the state chief last Sunday despite having the backing from 14 divisions.

Libaran division chief Ahmad Thamrin Jaini was appointed instead but has the support of only five other divisions - Tuaran, Tawau, Kalabakan, Silam and Semporna - according to the confirmed divisions announced this week by Tawau division chief Kong Hong Ming.

The political temperature has never been higher in Kota Kinabalu judging by the flurry of goings-on.

The Keningau division chief has previously ruled out returning to Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), a party he co-founded with his elder brother, Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

Also, he does not see himself entering one of the other component parties in BN or forming his own political party as his supporters in the interior are urging him to do.

If Jeffrey teams up with Yong, as widely expected, the latter may cold-storage his current attempts to woo Bernard Dompok’s Upko (United PasokMomogun KadazanDusunMurut Organisation) into pulling out from the BN as he did on Sept 17 last year.

Sapp has had problems getting support in the interior regions of Sabah where PBS held sway until PKR came in.

Sapp is also concurrently holding talks with 10 leaders of the deregistered Usno (United Sabah National Organisation). These leaders, who have set up an ad hoc body, Ex-Members of Usno, claim that some 100,000 members are still with them

Umno came in to replace Usno before the latter was deregistered. The main grouse against Umno, among locals, is that a large number of illegal immigrants make up its membership in the state.

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