Latest defections meant to neutralise PKR’s positive move for East Malaysia

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Nov 28, 2013

(The Ant Daily) – The defection of 11 Sabah PKR leaders to the Barisan Nasional (BN) is aimed at diluting positive vibes emanating from the PKR Special Congress held last weekend.

Political analyst Professor Jayum Jawan said the 11 leaders are “small fries” in the larger scale of things, and the timing of their announcement showed that it was done in response to amendments made to the PKR party constitution.

“The division leaders are not important . What concerns me the most are the elected representatives who had jumped ship (to join BN) as this raises the issue of their integrity,” Jayum told the antdaily in referring to Matunggong assemblyman Datuk Jelani Hamdan and Kadamaian assemblyman Jeremy Malajad.

The duo, along with the 11 state leaders, had on Nov 26 held a joint press conference with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman at the Umno headquarters here to announce their decision.

“With this (resignations), PKR is almost paralysed while Barisan will become even stronger in Sabah, allowing us to better serve the people of the state,” Najib reportedly said.

PKR through the amendments has included a clause stating that it will uphold the spirit of cooperation and power sharing between Sabah, Sarawak and the Peninsula according to the 1963 Malaysia Agreement — a promise which was recorded in Pakatan Rakyat’s “Kuching Declaration” signed on Sept 16, 2012.

The party also agreed that at least one of the four appointed vice-president seats must be allocated to a Sabah or Sarawak leader — ensuring a better representation to champion their issues.

Jayum, however, said that PKR is also “playing politics” in making the promises as they are not in a position to offer Sabah and Sarawak greater autonomy.

“What do they (PKR) mean by autonomy? There is no autonomy to offer because the matter is already spelled out in the Malaysia Agreement 1963,” he stressed, citing as example enforcement of its own immigration laws.