PKR crisis deepens, Jeffrey advises Anwar to scrap visit
By Luke Rintod, Free Malaysia Today
KOTA KINABALU: The cracks in PKR appears to be widening with vice president Jeffrey Kitingan accusing PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim of destroying the peace plan brokered late last year to restore normalcy in the party in Sabah.
Jeffrey said PKR had two options last year: one was to take action against those involved in forming a breakaway party through suspension or sacking; and the second option was reconciliation.
He added that the party chose to reconcile and agreed to some of his demands. In return, his 12 supporters agreed to restore normalcy including withdrawing the application to register a break-away party, Parti Cinta Sabah.
“The party cannot now abandon the reconciliation plan and go back to the option of castigating and punishing the people involved.
“This has reflected badly against decision makers in the party,” said Jeffrey.
FMT also learned that Jeffrey has advised Anwar to postpone his scheduled visit to Menggatal, Putatan and Papar tomorrow to another date.
Jeffrey is expected to release a statement on the matter later today.
Did Anwar break his word?
In related development, Jeffrey in an interview with blogger Haris Ibrahim, also spoke about how Anwar had reneged on his word.
Yesterday, the PKR disciplinary board recommended that 12 Sabah PKR leaders, aligned to Jeffrey, be suspendend for wanting to register Parti Cinta Sabah.
The 12 had filed the application with the Registrar of Societies, following a leadership tussle last year. They had wanted Jeffrey to lead Sabah PKR.
Following a peace deal, the application was retracted.
Asked if the application to register a new party was raised at the peace talks, Jeffrey replied, “Yes, when it was decided to reconcile, it was also decided that no action would be taken against those who took part in setting up the new party.”
“In return, Thamrin Jaini’s appointment (as Sabah PKR chief) would be accepted whilst there was also an agreement on the appointment of some others, like the secretary and ketua penerangan (information chief), but even this was not implemented,” he added.
On whether the assurance that “no action would be taken” was expressly raised and agreed during the peace talks, he said: “It was agreed to by the Ketua Umum PKR (Anwar). It (the decision) was conveyed to me by the Ketua Umum through a third party.”
According to Jeffrey, the assurance was conveyed verbally as well as in writing.
The veteran politician was also in the dark about why the party had suddenly decided to make a U-turn on this issue.
“I have no idea, although it does look like it might have to do with the party elections. Somebody complained and now it looks like we are going backward,” he said.
