PKR leadership issue in troubled divisions to be resolved by year-end – Lajim

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Lajim with the Sepanggar new leadership after the courtesy call.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) is expected to resolve the issue of leadership in its troubled divisions by the end of the year.

Its liaison chairman, Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin, said that they have resolved the leadership issue for the Sepanggar and Kinabatangan divisions.

He pointed out that since only the Sepanggar and Kinabatangan divisional chiefs had resigned from the party, the deputy divisional chiefs were on hand to take over the leadership.

“This Wednesday the state PKR leadership’s political bureau will be meeting to discuss the leadership issue for Kota Marudu, Kalabakan and Silam divisions. The decision as to who will lead the divisions will be made then,” Lajim said after a courtesy call by the new PKR Sepanggar division leadership yesterday.

PKR Sepanggar will now be led by Ramlan Naim while Kinabatangan division leader is Ahmad Abdul, Lajim disclosed.

According to him, the state leadership does not see much problem in getting the issue in Kalabakan and Silam resolved although they may be some with the Kota Marudu division as many people are interested to be the divisional chief there.

To resolve the matter, the state leadership will be referring to the list of names submitted to the Registrar of Society, he said, adding that the former Kota Marudu chief had a habit of simply crossing out the names of the people he did not like from the leadership list without informing the state and central leadership.

Lajim added that on Tuesday, state PKR leaders Datuk James Ghani, Terrence Siambun and several others would be going to Kota Marudu to assess the situation there before making their recommendation on how to resolve the leadership issue.

“This goes to show that interest and support for PKR is still strong in Sabah unlike what Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak claims… that PKR is paralyzed. We can see clearly here that PKR is still accepted by the people and is still relevant to the state,” he said.

The support is also reflected in the applications from 30 people to join PKR Kota Marudu, the Sabah Opposition chief and Klias assemblyman stressed.

Last month, 11 leaders, comprising 10 division chiefs and one division information chief resigned from Sabah PKR and expressed their support for the BN.

Two from Sabah PKR, Matunggong assemblyman Jelani Hamdan and Kadamaian assemblyman Jeremy Malajad, had quit the party earlier. One of the leaders, former Kota Marudu division chief Anthony Mandiau, said he blamed PKR advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, PKR president Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and her deputy for them leaving the party.