KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) has become the first political party in Sabah to be run by a father and son who occupy its two highest positions.
Arthur J Kurup joins his father, Tan Sri Joseph Kurup at the helm of PBRS after he was elected unopposed as the deputy president during the party’s triennial delegates meeting that ended yesterday.
The 33-year-old took over as the second man in command after incumbent Datuk Ellron Angin failed to secure enough votes to allow him to vie for the deputy president post.
The elder Kurup, in giving his inaugural speech after his re-election as president, dismissed speculations that there may have been some elements of favouritism in the success of his son in winning the number two post.
He added it was not unusual for family members to hold the highest positions in a political party, saying it has happened both in Malaysia and overseas.
“I need to touch on this (Arthur’s election) again. I have to, because I have been hearing talks about it, people asking ‘how is your new deputy president, who have won uncontested’. I have put it all out in the open, and what else can I do.
“Every division wanted him to run for the post. As a young blood who has the aspiration to step up and lead his fellow party members, and he has been asked to do so, so why not give him a chance.
“This is not something that never happened before. Look at Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the vice president is Datuk Seri Anwar’s daughter, and after Anwar was sent to jail, his wife took over from him,” he said.
In the United States, president Bush was succeeded by his son.
“It is not the blood ties that we take into account but the commitment, dedication, ability and drive to lead and to serve the people. This is what I look at when choosing a candidate,” he added.
According to Kurup, he had also made it clear to the party’s supreme council as well as the delegates during their recent annual general meeting that the party election should be carried out openly and fairly in accordance to rules and regulations.
Kurup said he had told his party that those who qualified and have successfully garnered enough nominations to contest should be allowed to do so and the delegates should choose the leaders they wanted freely.
“But it is up to the candidates to campaign for themselves.If you just sit quietly and just hope for a windfall without doing anything, people may not get to know much about you, and then you make noises. I think that is not right,” said Kurup, who was also re-elected unopposed.
Arthur marked his entry into politics by contesting and winning the youth chief and vice-president posts of
PBRS in 2012.