KOTA KINABALU: The Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah election machinery was hit by the resignation of five of the opposition party’s divisional leaders who applied to join Barisan Nasional (BN) through Umno.
They are Sandakan division chief Mazhry Nasir, Saidil Simoi (Kota Belud), Abdul Zainal Atin (Putatan acting chief), Zainiddin Hassan, (Batu Sapi deputy chief) and Iriansyah Yunus (Kalabakan).
Their applications to join Umno were accepted by its state secretary Datuk Seri Panglima Yahya Hussin here yesterday. Mazhry, Saidil, and Iriansyah were also PKR Sabah council members.
Yahya, in welcoming the former PKR leaders into the BN fold, said most of them are former Umno members.
“The state BN and Umno leadership welcomes their interest to return to the party and this is a good sign that clearly reflects our friends in the opposition now realize that there is no other party that really fights for the rakyat, only BN,” he said.
“I hope our friends in the opposition will follow the move by these five leaders so that we can be united and strengthen BN. That way come May 5, we will get the best result and a clean sweep of all the constituencies contested,” he said.
The five former PKR leaders are among a group of 11 who said they have lost confidence in the party’s leadership.
Mazhry, who was also Sabah PKR deputy election chief, said their decision was made after taking into consideration what is happening in the party’s state and central leadership.
He said they were not induced or coerced by anyone from both the BN or opposition in making the move.
“Our decision was made without any inducement from anyone, we have lost confidence in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leader Datuk Seri Anwar and PKR president Datin Seri Wan Azizah’s leadership.
“I have been in PKR since 1999 and I made the decision to leave the party because of unavoidable reasons,” he said.
Among the reasons he cited was the promise of autonomy for Sabah as stated in the Buku Jingga but was in fact not included in Pakatan Rakyat’s main manifesto.
“We regretted that this is not included in the main manifesto and when we questioned it, we were told that there was no promise of autonomy for Sabah. But this is what we have been telling the people in Sabah and igniting their spirit to support Pakatan Rakyat,” he said.
“If the central leadership had not promised autonomy for Sabah, then why did we spend the last two years promoting the Buku Jingga all over the state and saying that it is the best for the people?” he asked.
Mazhry also said disunity among Pakatan component parties was also one of the reasons as they felt the coalition was not working anymore.
Describing the coalition as just a ‘marriage of convenience’ for the 13th general election, Mazhry said the conflict in Pakatan is why there are so many ‘overlapping’ of candidates in the election.
He opined that PKR Sabah was no longer relevant to what the people in Sabah wanted because all decisions were made by the central leadership without any consultation with the state leaders.
“We were not informed of any discussions among which was the inclusion of APS and PPPS into Pakatan Rakyat Sabah. We were just informed of the matter at the last minutes.
“During a meeting in Sandakan, we asked Anwar about this and he said not to worry because APS and PPPS would only be allocated the Tuaran and Beaufort parliamentary seats.
“But in the end APS and PPPS seem to be in control of PKR Sabah’s politics and that is why to me, PKR Sabah is no longer suitable for Sabah.
“Anwar should bring the party out of Sabah and not use the Bumiputera leadership here as a means to achieve his political ambitions,” he said.
Mazhry also said all those who left PKR were never ‘bought’ but instead resigned from the party because of their principles and what they felt was good for the state.
“Actually we had planned this even before the nomination of candidates and PKR members who are now resigning from the divisions statewide are part of this plan,” he said.
He said the decision had nothing to do with PKR Tuaran chief Ansari Abdullah as they supported his ideas.
Meanwhile, Bernama quoted former PKR Beaufort division head Abdul Jarih @ Ramli Ukin as claiming that about 1,500 PKR members in Klias and Kuala Penyu are expected to quit and join the BN soon.
He said they were unhappy over interference in the state PKR’s affairs by BN turncoat Datuk Lajim Ukin who is defending the Beaufort parliamentary seat and contesting the Klias state seat under the PKR’s banner.
“The interference has caused uneasiness among 25 PKR division heads. He (Lajim) did not notify 15 prospective PKR candidates that they would not be fielded, but replaced by candidates from Pertubuhan Pakatan Perubahan Sabah (PPPS) led by him.
“Much to their dismay, the PPPS candidates are contesting under the PKR banner,” Ramli, who happens to be Lajim’s younger brother, told Bernama.
Ramli, who was also Sabah PKR former treasurer, said the disgruntled PKR leaders had voiced out their dissatisfaction over Lajim’s interference to PKR top leaders, but to no avail.
“PKR top leaders did not honour their words on division heads’ autonomy or full power to choose candidates and appoint state liaison chief for the authority is overridden by national leaders. The voice of majority in the state is ignored. What will happen if they were to run Sabah?” he said.
Ramli, who has yet to decide which BN component party to join, has joined BN candidate for Beaufort Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun in her campaign trail.
On Tuesday, he led about 200 former PKR members to submit their applications to join the BN to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during his visit to Sabah.