PBRS (Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah) president Joseph Kurup threw caution to the winds late last night and issued an open challenge to his former mentor, PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) president Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

pensiangan joseph kurup by election court sabah Kurup challenged Pairin to step out from behind his party officials and face him one-to-one in a public debate over his (Pairin’s) record of public service and his recent statement throwing cold water on his “automatic choice” as the BN candidate for the looming parliamentary by-election in Pensiangan.

In an e-mailed press statement, Kurup retaliated that he “does not want to be engaged in debates in the media with Radin Malleh (PBS secretary-general) as it is understood that he is merely sheltering his president”.

“I would like to meet face-to-face with Pairin to debate on what he said and on what I said (recently on various issues),” wrote Kurup.

“Pairin should not hide behind his secretary-general when faced with a situation which was raised by him in the first instance.”

Kurup suggested a three-point agenda for the public debate:

(1) Pairin’s statement on the candidacy in Pensiangan and the implications of that statement;

(2) The meaning and content of “colourful and well-documented history”; and

(3) Pairin’s performance (for) two terms (as) Member of Parliament for Keningau.

He also warned Radin to “stay away from the issues raised by Pairin”.

Pairin, the MP for Keningau, has never been MP for Pensiangan but in all his statements so far, Kurup has referred to the former Sabah chief minister and current deputy chief minister and state minister of rural development, as the Pensiangan MP.

Only slight thaw in relationship

Parts of the Sook state seat, now part of Pensiangan along with Nabawan, were once part of the Keningau parliamentary seat.

bn supreme council mt meeting sapp sabah issue 190608 pairin kitingan Kurup’s relations with Pairin have only slightly thawed since 1994 when he, as deputy chief minister, fled with seven elected PBS state assemblypersons to PBRS and helped bring about the downfall of the latter’s government after he was apparently promised by the then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that he would be chief minister for two years under the “rotation formula” suggested by him for the post.

One week later, the other six state assemblypersons ditched him and joined Akar (Angkatan Keadilan Rakyat) when they realised that he was not willing to make way for Dr Jeffrey Kitingan to be party chief.

The six also realised that the other PBS state assemblypersons were not keen on PBRS and that Kurup would not be chief minister. Ever since 1994, PBRS had always had only one state assemblyperson and one MP.

Kurup, who won Pensiangan “unopposed” last March 8 and had the seat taken away from him by an Elections Court on Sept 8 last year, has proclaimed himself as “the automatic choice for Pensiangan” in the event of a by-election and has camped out in the seat since Sept 11 dishing development aid as the federal deputy minister for rural and national development.

PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) candidate Danny Anthony Andipai, who had his nomination papers rejected last March 8 “for being three minutes late”, and filed a successful petition to have Kurup’s “victory” overturned, is the front runner in Pensiangan.

In view of PKR's strong candidate and in the wake of recent BN defeats in Kuala Terengganu and Permatang Pauh, Pairin opined that there was “no automatic candidate” for the looming by-election. He suggested that Kurup take himself out of the running for the sake of the BN.

Kurup immediately saw red and sees Pairin’s comments as an attempt to kill him politically and has since been suggesting that Pairin’s comments don’t deserve any consideration since he had betrayed the BN over two decades ago.

Unease among BN component parties

That event was a “colourful and well-documented history” - when Pairin pulled PBS out of the ruling coalition on the eve of the 1990 general election.

Kurup, at that time, was a deputy chief minister in the Pairin government which, according to the former’s critics, “picked him up from total obscurity and gave him a golden chance”.

karim bujang mansion in sabah The increasing temperature on Pensiangan has caused a great deal of unease among BN component parties in Sabah and provoked a rare public warning from State BN secretary Karim Bujang to both Josephs to “chill out, cool off and take the debate, if necessary, behind closed doors”.

“It (public quarrel) is of no good to anybody. I am not siding anybody but they are just biting each other and I want to tell these senior leaders that it is only Barisan that will be the loser,” said Karim.

“If they have any ideas or grouses they should bring them up at a closed-door meeting where they can pow wow as much as they want. I think that it will be stupid for Barisan to tell them it is wrong to argue in public.”

The Federal Appeals Court is scheduled to hear the Pensiangan case on Feb 12 and 13 following which there could be a by-election within the month.

March and April are not considered suitable months for the by-election considering the Umno party elections and “the transition of power” from outgoing Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to his deputy Najib Abdul Razak.

Najib, if confirmed as the Prime Minister, may also want to go for his own mandate. The Federal Appeals Court has six months from Sept 11 to decide on the Pensiangan case.

By-election in early May?

A verdict was expected earlier this month but was allegedly delayed because of the recent Kuala Terengganu by-election.

A by-election has to be held within 60 days of the court ruling, if there is going to be one (by-election). That could also point at early May for the by-election unless a general election is called.

Meanwhile, Kurup continues as Pensiangan MP and as a federal deputy minister but he has been accused by the opposition and his other critics of neglecting his job in Kuala Lumpur and camping out in Pensiangan to hand out “zinc sheets and other development aid”.

Former Pensiangan MP Bernard S Maraat has since pointed out that this kind of politicking will no longer work. He is more worried that projects promised in the area under the Sabah Development Corridor has not materialised and this may work in the opposition’s favour.

He was denied the chance to stand in Pensiangan last March 8 when Kurup decided that he wanted the seat for himself. Bernard subsequently left PBRS and joined PBS where he has been appointed the chairperson of the Sandakan Sawit Palm Oil Industrial Cluster.

Bernard been touted as a possible BN candidate for Pensiangan “on loan to PBRS”. He has reportedly been lobbying to be the candidate on the grounds that he has always delivered the seat to the coalition.