I bet Dr Jeffrey will quit PKR not later than January 6, 2011 !

By Ezra Haganez
KOTA KINABALU: Former PKR vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan denied he has quit PKR Sunday. He instructed one of his aides, Guandee Kohoi, to tell friends that he has not "yet" quit the party as reported by some online news portals.

"Dr Jeffrey denied sending in a resignation letter. Wait for the right time. He just called me and want FMT to clarify, as he is still a member of PKR as he did not submit any letter of resignation "yet"," Guandee said through a mobile- phone text.

The wording of the text however clearly indicated there was already this "will" to quit. Only a matter of timing.

Jeffrey's deputy in the Kadazan-Dusun-Murut Task Force in Sabah PKR, Daniel John Jambun, quietly told close suportrs that he and the rest of the task force committee members would quit PKR en bloc January 6, 2011 (leaving Dr Jeffrey isolated).

Earlier, it was reliably learnt that even Tian Chua, a PKR vice president, who joined Jeffrey at his Christmas party in Tambunan Thursday (December 30) must have gotten the "signal" that Jeffrey's leaving PKR was imminent.

Insiders said Tian Chua must have pre-empted that when he quietly asked some of his friends at the party to persuade Jeffrey and his group not to leave PKR.


Former PKR head for Putatan, Awang Ahmad Sah Awang Sahari, a strong ally of Jeffrey, announced quitting PKR with immediate effect last week, and he had claimed too then that many more PKR divisional leaders would quit soon.

When Awang Ahmad Sah announced his resignation, Jeffrey was supposed to be present but at the last minute he chosed to be just in another room at the Tambunan Golf Clubhouse in Beverly Hill Kota Kinabalu, the place the event took place.

He was seen with Ahmad Sah and other PKR members, including at least another divisional head, at the clubhouse immediately after the announcement.

In another related deveopment, PKR vice head for Tenom division, Gonsubin Yosundang, told FMT he and about 13 other committee members of the Tenom division would quit PKR very soon.

Why Jeffrey is fickle about leaving PKR...

Not all of Jeffrey's supporters are amused at his fickle-minded way of handling things politics.

Many supporters of him in PKR, are already complaining at the number of NGO's he has created and chosed to lead himself in a spate of few months. Nothing is really moving, however.

On top of Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF) which is a trustee body he has always has, Jeffrey had also created and chaired CigMa (Common Interest Group Malaysia), Borneo Dayak Forum (BDF) and the most recent one United Borneo Front (UBF), all in the name of fighting for either Sabah, Sarawak or Borneo's Dayak's rights and autonomy.

A PKR leader from the interior said: "Jeffrey should let his capable collagues to head his groupings and not take all to himself. Those in the NGOs are the same people anyway, so i wonder what are they really up to going around in different networks".

Another PKR leader who is Jeffrey's ally said that he is bewildered why Jeffrey still wants to be in PKR when he had openly stated his disappointment over disappointment over the "bad" treatments meted against him and his supporters by the top leadership of PKR.

"While i admire Dr Jeffrey's patience, i think he is allowing others to weaken him, to the detriments of his own struggle to ensure Sabah and Sarawak are heard and thier wishes complied with. How many times must he be lied to before he realised and acts?" he said adding that Jeffrey has little arms to persuade Sabahans to vote for PKR in the coming general election.

Political analysts said Jeffrey could be trying for the last time to get PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim agree to a series of demands, clearly all for the benefits of sidelined Sabah and Sarawak and the disenfranchised peoples there.

Anwar irked Jeffrey and many in East Malaysia
 
Anwar has so far agreed only to one -- raising the oil royalty for the two states from 5% to 20%. While publicly Anwar said PKR central is also empowering the two states to chose their own leadership, all of the time it was PKR central power taking over the power from the local leaders in the two states.

This has irked many in Sabah and Sarawak. And, Jeffrey, being de facto leader in the two states, has been under extreme pressure to shape up to Anwar's mental challenge and really take the Zaid Ibrahim's step, quit PKR and move on with his passion - autonomy for Sabah and Sarawak - outside of PKR.

An insider said another small delaying factor is that Jeffrey still wants to "consult and counsel" as many supporters, including current PKR leaders, in Pensiangan, the interior division he still leads, for an obvious reason, in or out of PKR, he is eyeing Pensiangan parliamentary seat currently held by Joseph Kurup, a bitter political rival of Jeffrey.

An analyst said "the writting is on the wall" about Jeffrey imminent leaving, it is only a matter of time that that tiny letter finally reach the email address of PKR leaders in Kuala Lumpur.