PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) is extremely upset over a report that its President Joseph Pairin Kitingan is single-handedly propping up Umno in Sabah.

NONE The theory, advanced by Jeffrey Gapari, ( right ) the younger Kitingan in politics, is driving the party leadership up the wall.

"What Pairin is doing at the moment is to help strengthen the BN (Barisan Nasional) in Sabah so that it can form a strong administration which can serve the people," said PBS vice president Herbert Timbon Lagadan

"This must not be seen as propping up Umno in Sabah although it is a Peninsular Malaysian party."

Pairin, according to Herbert, "believes in being loyal to his friends and allies". If Pairin is indeed propping up Umno in Sabah, then it can only be considered something very extraordinary, he reckons, without elaborating.

He does not dwell on the 1990 PBS pullout from the BN after nomination day.

That event is being blamed by party circles on two leaders who are no longer with the party i.e. Yong Teck Lee and Bernard Giluk Dompok. Both now head PBS splinter groups.

joseph pairin kitingan 010706 Herbert does not think that Umno will collapse in Sabah if Pairin quits politics, withdraws his support or takes a more neutral approach in BN politics.

Left unsaid are the repercussions, if any, on Umno and the local political scene.

The Samsons of Sabah

"If Pairin ( left ) can be accused of propping up Umno, Jeffrey can be accused of doing the same thing too," charged Herbert. "In his case, he's propping up PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) and PR (Pakatan Rakyat) not only in Sabah but Sarawak too."

The PBS vice-president pointed out that Jeffrey had once declared that he had burnt his bridges but, it is alleged, did "an about-turn" after Anwar Ibrahim - de facto PKR leader - agreed last December accept his appointees to the state line-up.

Three months later, only Kota Kinabalu division chief Christina Liew has been appointed as deputy state chief, he noted, and the others left in the cold.

This has apparently left the PBS wondering what has become of Jeffrey's fight for principles, priorities and democracy, none of which allegedly "have any place in the PKR".

"This (the failure to implement the promised Sabah line-up) shows that Anwar cannot be trusted at all," said Herbert. "Yet Jeffrey sticks with a man who does not say what he means and does not mean what he says."

Jeffrey also never made it as Sabah PKR chief, ventured Herbert, because Anwar was against him raising the issue of autonomy for the state.

He conceded that Jeffrey must be admired for being consistent in his stand for Sabah rights.

Dead on water promises

Still, he (Jeffrey) fails to see that his present vehicle is dead set against his main political objectives for state, added Herbert.

NONE He fails to see what the people of Sabah can expect from Anwar ( right ) since he has clearly rejected Jeffrey's push for the state's autonomy and for the local PKR chapter to be independent of the party headquarters in Selangor.

The long-promised changes to the party constitution to accommodate the two changes, although agreed by Anwar, are also not expected to take place.

"It would be better for Jeffrey to head his own party to campaign for Sabah rights," said Herbert.

"At one time, some of his people applied to register Parti Cinta Sabah. They were naïve to withdraw it after Anwar promised to accommodate them last December."

PBS too tried to rescue Jeffrey from the "clutches" of Anwar, he added, not once but twice but the PKR vice president allegedly responded by thinking aloud "on whether PBS could accommodate his political struggle".

If he does not return soon (to PBS), it will be too late for him as many young professionals including the next generation of Kitingans are in line to take over the party leadership, warned Herbert.

"Pairin will not be around forever. Deputy President Maximus Jonity Ongkili - Jeffrey's nephew -- is getting old himself."

"Maximus should not be seen as a stumbling block to Jeffrey's return," said Herbert.

"We know this is what worries many of Jeffrey's supporters within and without PBS." He did not mention what role Jeffrey is expected to play in the PBS.

But there have been feelers from the party to Jeffrey's aides that he can work on bringing the various PBS splinter groups back to the party.

This includes the former Akar members now in Umno, PBRS (Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah), Sapp (Sabah Progressive Party), Upko (United Pasok Momogun KadazanDusunMurut Organisation) and the Raymond Tan faction in the Gerakan.

Playing ball

Another major task which the party reportedly wants Jeffrey to manage is the clean-up of the electoral rolls through the Election Commission.

Already, Pairin has put the BN on notice that the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah must be settled by the year 2012.

Jeffrey co-founded PBS together with Pairin in 1985 after a by-election in Tambunan where the latter stood as an independent and thrashed Berjaya which was led by Harris Salleh.

However, he only joined the party on the eve of the state elections in 1994, just after his release from detention under the ISA (Internal Security Act).

The suspicion then was that he had been plotting to pull out Sabah from Malaysia.

Jeffrey's departure from PKR, if and when it materialises, is expected to lead to the collapse of the opposition alliance in Sabah and Sarawak.

It is said that only Anwar can help stave off such an eventuality by playing ball with Jeffrey.