Gabriel Adit to leave PKR and join Tiong
(Malaysian Mirror) – Speculation is rife that Sarawak PKR leader Gabriel Adit, who is believed to be about to launch a new party, may also be mulling a plan to jump ship and join Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing’s Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party instead. (Read: PKR is on self-destruct mode in Sarawak and Sabah).
Reliable PKR sources told Malaysian Mirror that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has agreed to the deal with Adit, who is believed to be facing personal problems including financial debts. 
“Adit was given a good offer to return to the Barisan Nasional fold plus promises of further help for himself and his constituency,” the PKR source said.
Problems became too hot
Adit, a five-term assemblyman for Ngemah, has been in the news of late. Rumblings of discontent with the PKR state leadership including Kuala Lumpur-appointee Mustaffa Kamil Ayub surfaced all over the press.
There was talk that the 59-year old, who joined PKR in 2008 amid great fanfare, would start his own party, to be called Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak. This new party is believed to be backed by Tiong and another long-established Sarawak politico Larry Sng.
“That is another of the possibilities but we would still consider it a defection because Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak would be BN-friendly,” the PKR source said.
Adit first won the Ngemah seat on a BN-PBDS ticket but was not chosen in the 2006 state election. He then joined SPDP but stood as an independent following intra-coalition objections. ‘I joined PKR because BN door has been shut for me,” Adit had said.
In 2008, he took some 12,000 supporters with him into the PKR fold. Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim had attached high hopes on Adit, but it was not to be.
“It is not a matter of not doing enough screening and character checks. There are no such things. You cannot control behavior of this sort. It is also not about Sarawak politics being very insular and close-knit,” said a political watcher.
“In Adit’s case, perhaps his problems just became too hot.”
A match for Tiong’s SPDP?
Like Adit, Tiong has also been in the limelight of late for his role in the high-profile Port Klang Free Zone financial debacle. His company Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd was the main contractor for the failed project and is being sued for hundreds of millions by federal government agency Port Klang Authority.
But Tiong is well-known for his wealth and connections to top Umno leaders.
Recently, he accused MCA leaders Ong Tee Keat and Chew Mei Fun of taking donations from him. His allegation that Ong accepted RM10 million in cash from him created a stir. The MCA president has denied the accusation and slapped a RM500 million defamation suit on Tiong.
The flamboyant Tiong is also Treasurer-General of SPDP, which has been mulling a merger or some form of tie-up with James Masing’s Parti Rakyat Sarawak. SPDP’s aim was to create a stronger Dayak base for itself. If Adit joins, the party may be able achieve some of its Dayak aspirations.
For Anwar and PKR, the BN media can be counted on to create a huge ruckus over Adit’s return to their fold – whether through Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak or SPDP.
Although Malaysians – both in and outside Sarawak – may sympathise with PKR and view the negative development as unjust, given the questionable reasons behind Adit’s departure, the bottom-line for Anwar still remains.
The charismatic leader and his PKR party will have to find new solutions in East Malaysia – where sincere reforms and leadership are sorely needed.
A good starting point may be the acceptance that Sarawakians and Sabahans – while fast merging into the national psyche – have their own peculiarities and preferences. Just like folk from any other peninsula state, they hear and listen better to the beat of their own drum.
