Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) has rejected calls on New Year’s Eve from DAP urging Joseph Pairin Kitingan, 70, to step down as Keningau member of parliament and allow a by-election.

“PBS Bingkor is fully behind Pairin and will provide him with the necessary support to deliver the promises of the BN government,” said PBS supreme council member Peter Jino Alliun, who was reportedly tasked by the party to make known its stand on the issue.  

bn supreme council mt meeting sapp sabah issue 190608 pairin kitingan Alliun however added that Pairin ( left ), who is also Tambunan state assemblyperson, should decide for himself whether to defend his Keningau seat at the next general election. He did not elaborate further.

Alliun remains confident that Pairin can cope with his hectic schedule as Keningau MP besides being PBS president, deputy chief minister and state minister for infrastructure development. Pairin is also Huguan Siou (paramount chief) of the KadazanDusunMurut and president of the KadazanDusunMurut Cultural Association (KDCA).

“It is an open secret that DAP wants to contest in Keningau although the other opposition parties are against it,” said Alliun. “We welcome their contest but they should wait patiently for the next general election. That’s another two or three years away.”

On a sterner note, Alliun stressed that it was not for the DAP or any other party to decide whether Pairin should or should not step down as the Keningau MP.  

Do it for the sake of Keningau

DAP is however not buying PBS’ spirited defence of Pairin and reiterated that the elder statesman “should resign gracefully and make way for an MP who has more time for the people”.

“How can they ask Pairin to sit in Parliament day in and day out while there is so much for him to do here in Keningau and Sabah?” asked Sabah DAP vice-chairman Edward Ewol Mujie.

“This (parliamentary duties) will stop him from performing properly as a Sabah minister and to serve the people of the state.”

Mujie thinks that it would be advisable for Pairin to resign as MP and pave the way for a by-election in line with BN’s 1Malaysia theme of ‘People First, Performance now’.

“Pairin should treat this as friendly advice for the sake and well-being of the people in Keningau, Tambunan and Bingkor,” said Mujie.

Sabah DAP publicity chief Edwin Bosi likewise thinks that “the Keningau MP’s post is too hectic for Pairin and the traveling and long hours of sitting in Parliament sessions are definitely taking up too much of his precious time”.

Both DAP men pointed out that BN has introduced new rules requiring attendance of its MPs in the wake of the recent near-defeat of the Budget Bill. These rules will impose new constraints on Pairin, they added.

“It must not be forgotten that Pairin has also many social responsibilities and tasks as a community leader besides his many official duties,” said the duo. “By resigning as Keningau MP, he will have more time to concentrate on his many other duties.”

DAP testing political temperature

There has been no reaction so far from the other opposition parties or BN component parties on the call by Sabah DAP for Pairin to resign his MP’s post.

The DAP seems to be testing the political temperature in Sabah BN by touching on a particularly vulnerable point in an even more vulnerable political component.

It is also not known why PBS Bingkor, and not PBS Tambunan or PBS Keningau, was tasked by the party leadership to rebut the Sabah DAP. Pairin himself refuses to be drawn on the matter.

It is unlikely that PKR will take any Sabah DAP bid for Keningau kindly.

As PKR national vice-president Jeffrey Gapairi Kitingan, Pairin’s younger brother, has overall responsibility for Sabah and Sarawak. He heads the Pakatan Rakyat opposition alliance in both states.

Jeffrey also heads the state chapter’s division in Keningau which covers Tambunan and Bingkor. He was once state assemblyperson for Bingkor when he was with PBS, which he co-founded with his elder brother in 1985 but didn’t join until 1994.

Pairin was recently returned unopposed as PBS president. He has not been challenged since the party was founded. His nephew, Maximus Jonity Ongkili, holds the senior deputy president’s post and has vowed never to oust his political mentor.

PBS has spawned many breakaways since 1994 when the Pairin government fell after an unprecedented four terms, including a short-lived one month.

These include United PasokMomogun KadazanDusunMurut Organisation (Upko), Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) and the Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp).

The dissolved Angkatan Keadilan Rakyat (Akar) broke away from PBS shortly after it was formed and merged with Sabah Umno taking along its Chinese members as well.