Libaran PKR division chief Ahmad Thamrin Jaini, the newly-appointed state chief, had a bad first day when he convened a meeting of division chiefs late this afternoon.

His scheduled meeting with the division chiefs ran late and reporters were kept waiting beyond the appointed time for the press conference.

The meeting, which was scheduled to begin at 2.30pm, only began half an hour later when the first division chiefs and representatives began trickling in.

It was cut short after an hour when only Kudat division chief Mursalim Tanjul accepted the post of state secretary in the Thamrin line-up.

Thamrin, in a prepared statement for the press conference, stressed that the immediate task of the new state line-up, when appointed, was to prepare a memorandum providing input from Sabah for Pakatan Rakyat’s Common Policy Framework.

“The memorandum will outline the economic and development agenda for Sabah,” said Thamrin. “It will reflect the state’s special position (in Malaysia) and its needs.”

He did not announce a new state line-up as expected but confirmed Mursalim’s appointment. Thamrin also did not indicate when the announcement on the new state line-up would be made.

Fielding questions later from journalists, the state chief denied that his appointment was undemocratic and pointed out that the party president could exercise her power, under the constitution, to appoint him.

“It was agreed at the special meeting in Kota Kinabalu on Oct 22 – chaired by former state chief Azmin Ali – that we would leave it to the party president to decide,” said Thamrin before declining to take further questions on the matter.

He stressed that his doors were still open to the rebellious division chiefs, said to be in the majority, who are against his appointment.

Thamrin expressed regrets that Jeffrey Kitingan and Christina Liew, the Keningau and Kota Kinabalu division chiefs respectively, had resigned from the supreme council.

“With their resignations, Sabah is now only represented by Ansari Abdullah (Tuaran division chief),” remarked Thamrin, who added that he will try to reach out to both Jeffrey and Liew.

At the press conference, only the division chiefs of Tawau, Tuaran and Kalabakan were seated with Thamrin, while four other division chiefs representing Ranau, Kudat, Kinabatangan and Silam lined up behind him.

According to Thamrin, 17 of 25 divisions were at the meeting. Asked about the other eight divisions, he said they were unable to attend the meeting due to short notice.

Tawau division chief Kong Hong Ming, speaking on the sidelines of the press conference, said that a new state lineup could not be announced because “the process of consultation was still going on”.

He declined to dwell on insider reports that he was offered a post – reportedly deputy state chief - but turned it down on the grounds that he preferred to concentrate on his division.

“If the party needs my services, I am always willing to serve, post or no post,” said Kong who dodged the question.

Jeffrey, who did not attend the meeting, claimed that Thamrin had the support of only nine divisions, seven of whom were at the press conference with him while he represented Libaran. Semporna, which reportedly supports Thamrin, was not present during today’s meet.

“Although some of us did not attend, we had the Kota Belud, Kimanis and Kota Murudu division chiefs to hold a watching brief for us,” said Jeffrey.

It is learnt that besides Semporna, Keningau and Kota Kinabalu, the chiefs of Beaufort, Putatan, Tenom and Batu Sapi did not turn up at the meet.

Sepanggar and Sandakan are pro-tem committees, while Pensiangan and Penampang are bogged down by legal problems and a leadership dispute.

Rebel divisions to meet

Kota Kinabalu division chief Liew told Malaysiakini that she sent a junior representative, Asmari Akin, to “see just what was going on and report back”.

“Asmari’s task was to deliver two messages i.e. we don’t recognise Thamrin’s appointment as state chief because he does not have the support of the majority of the division chiefs,” said Liew who is in private practice as an advocate and solicitor.

“The other point that we wanted to stress is that black-and-white is important. We don’t want to debate with half-baked truths about numbers when they are mere manipulations.”

Liew confirmed that the division chiefs would be gathering at 8.15 pm “somewhere in Kota Kinabalu” to have an informal discussion among themselves.

She could not confirm the numbers that would turn up. However, she said Keningau division chief Jeffrey would be among those taking part in the informal discussion.

Contacted an hour after the meeting started, Jeffrey briefly said that they were “trying to prevent some of the divisions from dissolving themselves and exiting from the party”.

“We told them to cool it for the moment,” said Jeffrey. “It’s not necessary to rush these things. It must be admitted that quite a number of them are very agitated and emotional about recent events in the party.

Jeffrey in 'hush-hush' talks with Sapp leaders