KOTA KINABALU: United Borneo Front (UBF) chairman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan announced yesterday that the concept of UBF as a civil rights movement will now become a full-fledged committee known as the the UBF Committee under the Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF), a registered non-governmental organisation (NGO) which he founded several years ago.
Dr Jeffrey said that the decision was made to ensure that the baton of leadership would eventually be handed over to young, fresh leaders who can continue the UBF agenda and assist members from a registered body.
“I want to make it absolutely clear that the UBF Committee is not a political party although matters which are addressed by the committee are political in nature.
As part of the BHF, the UBF Committee can now progress as a registered NGO.
“I will eventually delegate my duties in UBF to a new chairman, but in the meantime I will continue to lead the UBF committee as the existing chairman and when I finally find a successor, I will observe the committee in an ex-officio capacity as the overall president of the Borneo Heritage Foundation.
“I also plan to summarise and simplify our core demands to make it easier for the people to understand and grasp,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Dr Jeffrey expressed an intention to reduce his intense workload and schedule in other NGOs and movements that he leads.
“I have not fully recovered from my injuries which I sustained in a car accident a few years ago.
“It has physically compromised me and the intensity of having to balance a political and non-political career is taking a serious toll on my health.
“There will be more delegation of duties, especially if the call of duty means that I may have to take on the more physically demanding role of becoming a politician in preparation of the 13th general election.
“In the next few months as I continue with my ‘Borneo Tea Parties’, I will monitor my ability to physically sustain the intense travelling and work expected of me if I entered the political arena.
“In the event I rejoin politics, I may either register a new party or join an existing one.”
Dr Jeffrey confirmed that the UBF Committee under the BHF will comprise of new faces from their membership database.
“I will be inviting various guest speakers to join me in my tea parties, including my co-founders, Nilakrisna James and Zainal Ajamain.
“It has been an intensive three months of UBF campaigning and I now need to spread the workload.”