Monday 7 December 2009

Hiccup for Love Sabah Party

Hiccup for Love Sabah Party

Sat, Dec 5, 2009

National

By Joseph Bingkasan as published in http://freemalaysiatoday.com

KOTA KINABALU: Rebellious Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah leaders aligned to ex-vice president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan are hoping for a new start in a new party.

But they may have to wait a bit longer.

They submitted an application to register a new political party–Parti Cinta Sabah (Love Sabah Party)–to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) two days ago, but have since withdrawn it for “technical reasons.”

“There are certain criteria which have to be ironed out,” Daniel John Jambun, a senior aide of Jeffrey told FMT here today. One of the reasons relates to the name of the party.

They named the new political organisation Parti Cinta Sabah (Love Sabah Party), or Paati Guminavo Sabah in Kadazan.

Jambun, the Sabah PKR liaison committee deputy chairman and the head of its Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) Task Force, said lawyers were studying the matter and would make adjustments recommended by the ROS.

“A new application will be ready for submission to the ROS before Christmas,” he promised.

According to Jambun, the party would be multi-racial and its protem members respected leaders and professionals. A numbers of them will be from Sabah-based Barisan Nasional component parties, especially Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and UPKO, whose members were Jeffrey’s supporters when he was in government.

Explaining the reason for the new party, Jambun said PKR leaders in Sabah who supported Jeffrey needed a “house” because their voices were not heard by PKR national leaders.

“We were treated as if we are subservient,” he said. Jambun was PKR’s candidate for the Inanam state seat in the March 8, 2008 general elections. He lost in a three-cornered tussle, polling 4,293 votes against PBS incumbent Johnny Goh’s 5,979 and DAP’s Jeffrey Kumin’s 2, 864 votes.

Jambun said the party’s name could be changed if the ROS reject it. He said there were several options, but the name must reflect Jeffrey’s love for Sabah.

Jeffrey, who is PBS president Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan’s younger brother, resigned last October as PKR national vice president, as a supreme council member and as a political bureau member.

He and his supporters said they were dissapointed with PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwars Ibrahim’s decision to appoint Ahmad Tamrin Jaini from Sandakan as the party’s new Sabah chief.

Jeffrey, a former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee, was a PBS founder member and was once the party’s supreme council member. He was also a senator and a Federal deputy minister.

Jeffrey was unavailable for comment. Jambun said he was overseas.

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