Has Jeffrey’s blows KO’d Pairin?
PBS’s recent 27th anniversary celebration was supposed to have been a momentous one with its president pointing to new directions, but that didn’t happen
It is general knowledge among Sabahans that Pairin and PBS have a lot more reason than Jeffrey’s killer punches to lose the will to be aggressive. As the main Kadazandusun and Murut party supporting Umno in Sabah, PBS has long been seen to have abandoned its original struggle for the rights and dignity of the people of Sabah.
Raymond Tombung, Free Malaysia Today
Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Joseph Pairin Kitingan’s speech at the party’s recent 27th anniversary celebration was spiritless and lacking in vision.
His information chief, Johnny Mositun, had earlier promised that Pairin “will address several thousand party leaders and delegates and talk in detail of the party’s achievement, directions and also what has to be done to face the general election.”
But Pairin’s speech did nothing of the sort. It was so uninspired and uninspiring that the anniversary deserved only a 200-word report on page-three of a local daily and a picture of top PBS leaders cutting a huge anniversary cake.
The size of the cake was a reflection of the amount of unanswered questions bristling in the air.
There was a defeatist tone in Pairin’s speech. When he “put on record his appreciation to the party leaders from all levels and members at the grassroots for holding steadfast to the party struggle”, it sounded like a lament for the loss of many members to new political platforms.
There was also a strong hint that the party’s original vision may have gone fuzzy if it has not vanished. Pairin, admitting that PBS had been facing plenty of challenges in the past 27 years, said he was thankful that the remaining leaders and members were not easily swayed from their convictions.
He said it was up to them to safeguard the future of Sabah and Sabahans. How would PBS do that while being subservient to Umno? Challenges from the opposition have left a large dent on PBS’s credibility as a “party for the people”.
And Pairin is still reeling from the direct hit he got in his sparring with his younger brother, State Reform Party (STAR) chairman Jeffrey Kitingan.
To the total surprise of Sabahans, he lost his legendary cool on Feb 27, attacking Jeffrey without provocation for “lying” about PBS and “betraying” it.
The next day Jeffrey delivered a bombshell, saying the so-called betrayal was a secret act to save Pairin’s face for 18 years. He disclosed that then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad offered him the chief minister’s job but that he rejected it as unconstitutional.
According to the younger brother, his efforts contributed to making it possible for Pairin to be eventually sworn in as CM. However, Jeffrey said, he reneged on his pledge to Mahathir to accommodate some Umno leaders in the state cabinet. Apparently, that blunder led to the downfall of PBS in 1994.
It is general knowledge among Sabahans that Pairin and PBS have a lot more reason than Jeffrey’s killer punches to lose the will to be aggressive. As the main Kadazandusun and Murut party supporting Umno in Sabah, PBS has long been seen to have abandoned its original struggle for the rights and dignity of the people of Sabah.
One observer, Richard Libun Adou, sees PBS as the one party keeping Umno from falling in Sabah. “If PBS leaves BN, Umno will lose support and fall in the next general election,” he said.
“Unfortunately, PBS leaders want to preserve their positions and privileges in Sabah BN at the expense of the people. Because of this selfishness, it is practically a traitor to the people who brought it to power in 1985.”
