Think again, ex-Sabah Umno veteran tells Jeffrey

A united opposition can throw BN out of Sabah, so stop wasting time, the man who brought Umno to Sabah tells his good friend.


Veteran politician Karim Ghani, the man who single-handedly brought Umno to Sabah, wants his good friend Jeffrey Kitingan to decide whether he is with the ruling BN or with the opposition.

This is not a difficult decision for Jeffrey, he added, for if he has more faith in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, then Jeffrey should not be wasting time negotiating with Pakatan Rakyat "to see if it can offer a better deal".

Veteran politician Karim Ghani, the man who single-handedly brought Umno to Sabah, wants his good friend Jeffrey Kitingan to decide whether he is with the ruling BN or with the opposition.

Karim, who joined PKR after the Batu Sapi by-election, said, "Jeffrey has got his positioning seriously wrong. No one will do business with Jeffrey. given his current stand of sitting on the fence. The element of trust is missing."

He was commenting last night on on Jeffrey's take in the local media over the weekend that "PKR will be the downfall of the opposition in the state".

Karim, now aged 71, appears set for his last hurrah. In an exclusive interview at the Hyatt Kinabalu, he described Jeffrey as "the last piece in the political jigsaw puzzle in Sabah and Sarawak".

Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) president Yong Teck Lee, he said, was ready for serious talks with Pakatan in the wake of PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail taking over the leadership of the troubled Sabah chapter.

"Yong will come on board," Karim said, confidently. "Sapp will be realistic with Pakatan after all its public posturing in recent months. Sapp has realised that the lessons of Batu Sapi must be taken seriously."

Once Jeffrey makes up his mind, continued Karim, "we can then get on with the serious business of preparing for the next general election without further disruptions and distractions."

He admitted to trying to talk personally with Jeffrey, saying he encountered "little resistance".

He expressed disappointment that Jeffrey quit PKR after accepting all his advice, suggestions and political thinking on Sabah. Jeffrey, he added, would have been re-appointed PKR vice-president, and even as a deputy prime minister, if and when the opposition takes Putrajaya.

Asked about the growing perception that Jeffrey was a "lame duck" since he quit PKR, Karim begged to differ. He does not see Jeffrey being without a party as an issue at all.

The most important political decision for the former PKR vice-president to make, Karim said, was "to choose between BN and the opposition, or risk running out of time".

"If Jeffrey fails to form a party of his own by his March deadline, we can arrange a place in Pakatan for him and his supporters, provided he's with the opposition," said Karim. "It's not necessary that Jeffrey stands on a PKR ticket. He can choose any of the Pakatan component parties, even Sapp."

In any case, Karim sees no shame for Jeffrey to return to PKR, "since anyone can make mistakes".

The most important thing, he believes, "is for us to learn from our mistakes and not keep repeating them in the hope that some nice things will come our way, sooner or later". Personally, he thinks Jeffrey "acted in haste by quitting PKR".

Karim concedes that the stumbling block between Pakatan and Jeffrey is the latter's notion that Sabah and Sarawak should be the sole preserve of local opposition parties, a position he said was "driven more by idealism, rather than getting to grips with practical realities" on the ground.

"The local opposition parties in Sabah and Sarawak won't be able to make it on their own," warned Karim. "Both local and peninsula opposition parties should work together to emerge victorious in Sabah and Sarawak."

'PBS has become vulnerable'

Opposition unity in Sabah and Sarawak would topple the BN in both states, he said, adding that he based this cautious optimism on the fact that his former party, the United Sabah National Organisation (Usno), had been unable to defeat Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) for many years.

Subsequently, he added, with Usno agreeing to work with Umno, Sapp and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), PBS had become vulnerable, as seen in the 1994 state election results.

"If local and Peninsular Malaysia-based political parties can work together in the Sabah BN, it's no longer a realistic proposition for the local opposition parties to claim they can make it on their own," said Karim. "If that is so, then they are just day-dreaming and it would be better for me to go back to my kebun (farm) and till the soil."

A united opposition in Sabah, he said, could easily take 10 out of the of the 13 Dusun - including Kadazan (urban Dusun) and Murut - state seats, five of the seven Chinese seats, five of the eight mixed seats and 11 of the 32 Muslim seats, including those dominated by the Dusun Muslims in Ranau and Kinabatangan.

The Sabah state assembly has 60 seats, of which 32 are held by Umno. Most Muslims are either local Bajau or local Suluk, with both communities being immigrants from the Philippines, and dating back 300 years in the case of the Bajau.

"Umno can be beaten in Sabah the way Usno, Berjaya and PBS were all beaten," said Karim. "It's the disunity of the opposition that keeps Umno in power in Sabah. Umno is winning by default." - Malaysiakini