In a major blow to Sabah PKR, its newly minted state chief Pajudin Nordin announced today that he has quit the party and will apply to join Umno.

NONE The 40-year-old Pajudin, who became Sabah head of PKR less than a month ago, said that he decided to leave the party because he was disappointed with the leadership of Anwar Ibrahim and his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Anwar, the de facto head of PKR, and Azizah, the PKR president, were not serious about handling Sabah-related issues and making fools of the party's leaders in the state, he told a joint press conference with Chief Minister Musa Aman at Sri Gaya, Kota Kinabalu.

"I regard PKR in Sabah as not relevant to be considered a party of the future or a party headed for Putrajaya (the seat of government). Thus I declare myself out of PKR and resign from all posts in the party," he said at the official residence of the chief minister.

After observing political developments, he decided to apply for membership in Umno because he saw that the party and BN had long worked for the people, Pajudin said.

Resignation submitted this evening

He said he submitted his resignation by fax, SMS and e-mail to the PKR head office this evening, and believed that many others in the party would leave as well, including branch heads and committee members who had expressed dissatisfaction with the central leadership.

"I believe that my departure will be followed by many friends in the Sabah PKR who can see that the party is in chaos with no directions and without support from the central leadership," Pajudin said.

The appointment of Pajudin as PKR Sabah chief was a surprise because the state leader had always been picked from among the branch heads before this. Pajudin was vice-chief of Tuaran.

Eighteen of the 24 branch heads protested against the appointment.

Even after being appointed state chief, Pajudin said, he never got any cooperation or support from Anwar or Wan Azizah.

To a question, he said he did not leave PKR because of the protest over his appointment.

Musa said that the departure of leaders "one by one" from the party was a "trend" showing that PKR and the opposition pact were no longer relevant to the nation or Sabah.

He was not surprised by Pajudin's decision to leave, he said, adding that it was clear that Anwar was using people for his own personal ends.

- Bernama