Replying to steadyaku47
The Peoples' Parliament
Commentator Patriot drew my attention to blogger Hussein Abdul Hamid’s take on my post, ‘The end days of PKR in Sabah?’, and suggested I respond.
Patriot, here goes.
With regard to my source’s assertion that Anwar had, concerning the possibility of Jeffrey Kitingan being appointed Sabah PKR state chief, said,“No way in hell will I have Jeffrey as chief”, Hussein responded that he has known Anwar for over 50 years and has never known him to use the ‘H’ word.
Note here that Hussein does not say he was at that meeting and therefore confirms on first-hand evidence that Anwar did not use the ‘H’ word. His position is based on the reputation of Anwar, as known to Hussein.
Well I cannot claim to have known Anwar for that period of time, let alone any period to boast of, or count him as a friend, but I will have to go along with Hussein and say I, too, have never, ever heard him utter the ‘H’ word.
Interestingly, though, Malaysiakini reported the day before yesterday that former Deputy Sabah PKR chief Daniel John Jambun had said : “We are disturbed that Anwar said that ‘there’s no way in hell that he would allow Jeffrey to be Sabah PKR state chief’. If it’s true, then PKR in Sabah is finished.”
Wonder if Jambun’s source is the same as mine?
Whatever, let’s assume that Jambun’s and my source, if indeed different, got it wrong or, worse yet, embellished their version of what happened.
No ‘H’ word, then.
Anwar merely said “No way will I have Jeffrey as chief”.
Now, as to why Anwar will not have Jeffrey as Sabah chief, Hussein alludes to Jeffrey’s detention under the ISA on suspicion of plotting to secede Sabah from Malaysia and having switched political parties many times, and then equates Jeffrey with Ibrahim Ali, the former being the ‘katak’ in Sabah and the latter the ‘katak’ in Semenanjung . “Why would anyone want Jeffrey to lead any team against UMNO?”, Hussein asks. Only a moron would trust Jeffrey, and Anwar is no moron, insists Hussein.
Let me respond to this by once again reproducing something I had said in my letter to Anwar last year.
“…most of my friends and I, like my sister, have long forgiven you for your involvement in the atrocities committed by Mahathir during his reign of destruction and pillage, even if only by association and your failure to dissociate with his regime.
But like you, we, too, have not forgotten.
Just as remembrance will serve you well, so too us.
Will we ever forget?
I cannot speak for the others, but for me, I think that is really up to you…
…Many times last year, I wrote in this blog that I wished you would give me a reason to trust you.
Whilst I have to be frank and tell you that I still do not trust you, three things have persuaded me to ‘take a chance’ “.
Most of us are not moronic enough to trust Anwar. We’re only prepared to take a chance with him.
Why should Sabahans, if they so choose, not be permitted take a chance with Jeffrey?
Jeffrey ISAed for plotting to secede Sabah from the federation?
Hussein needs to consider whether that might be the very reason why some in Sabah are prepared to take a chance with Jeffrey.
If Jeffrey did indeed plot to secede Sabah from the rest of Malaysia, he merely attempted what I would imagine a great many Sabahans wished they had the gall to do. In that sense, I suppose Jeffrey will go down in Sabah folklore as a hero, if he did in fact plot to do as is now suggested.
As for Jeffrey being a ‘katak’, I hope that Hussein has not forgotten Anwar’s role, with the use of ‘kataks’, in the 1994 displacement of PBS, which had won the state elections, paving the way for BN to form the state government. I know a great many Sabahans have not forgotten.
And was not Anwar’s drive to wrest the federal gvernment from BN last year founded on a great many ‘froggies’ getting onto his bandwagon?
I certainly hope that the reasons proffered by Hussein in his post as to why Jeffrey ought not to have been appointed as Sabah chief are his and his alone, and not Anwar’s. Were it otherwise, it would not be out of place for Jeffrey to eyeball Anwar and ask, “See ye the speck in mine eye and not the plank in thine own?”.
