Jeffrey to quit PKR on Thursday?
By Luke Rintod, Free Malaysia Today
KOTA KINABALU: Phone lines in Sabah are burning up with speculations that Sabah PKR strongman, Jeffrey Kitingan, will be quitting the party.
Party insiders are expecting the former PKR vice-president to announce his departure from the beleaguered party on Thursday, the day he returns from his two-month vacation from politics.
Jeffrey is scheduled to hold a press conference the same day at a restaurant in Penampang.
Jeffrey’s aide, Philip Among, said his boss was holding the press conference “to explain his political destiny and the future of his struggle”.
“He will also announce the setting up of a movement,” Among added.
Among, who quit PKR weeks ago, is facilitating Thursday’s press conference at the restaurant which was booked for the function. Scores of Jeffrey’s ardent supporters are expected to show up.
Weeks of speculation that Jeffrey would follow in the footsteps of Zaid Ibrahim, who quit PKR not so long ago, culminated in a burst of text messages saying that he would leave on Thursday.
Jeffrey, when approached, remained tight-lipped. Both his lieutenants Danial John Jambun and Mozes Michael Iking, who were suspended from PKR for their involvement in the aborted attempt to register a PKR-breakaway party last year, also refused to talk on Jeffrey’s move.
Rumour has it that Jeffrey may lead a political party and work with a Sarawak-based party and AKIM, the peninsular-based party to be headed by Zaid.
Jeffrey’s disenchantment with PKR stemmed from, among others, the party’s failure to leave Sabah leadership issues to Sabahans, lack of commitment from the PKR leaders to the 20-point Malaysia Agreement and Borneonisation.
