Umno hand behind cracks within PBB?

Taib Mahmud's chief political secretary's denial of widely rumoured cracks within PBB masks the simmering discontent on the ground.

KUCHING: Cracks are surfacing within Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), lending credence to widely heard fears that peninsula-based Umno has infiltrated the party ranks.

For weeks, rumours of infighting have been going on between supporters of PBB Youth leader Fadillah Yusuf, who is deputy science, technology and innovation minister, and supporters of Abdul Karim Hamzah, chief political secretary to Taib and chairman of Barisan Nasional (BN) government backbencher.

The incessant bickering has been over remarks made by Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and MCA vice-president Senator Gan Ping Sieu, both of whom have called for Taib’s resignation.

These remarks were made during the height of the recent state election campaign in a bid to save BN from another political tsunami similar to the one experienced by BN in the 2008 general election.

Taib’s 30-year rule of the state was attacked by the opposition during political rallies.

Following these remarks, calls from the rank and file of PBB Youth for Fadillah to condemn Khairy and Gan have been reported constantly in the local press.

Fadillah’s refusal to condemn them prompted some of the PBB Youth members to accuse him of being an Umno lackey and this “label” irked Fadillah’s supporters.

PBB vice-president Daub Abdul Rahman has also expressed concern that the continued infighting and rumours of factions would plunge the party into disunity.

“It is not fair to say that factions exist, for instance, between supporters of Fadillah and Taib.

“Let us stop these allegations that there is one faction supporting Fadillah and another backing Taib.

“Between the two, Taib is higher in rank than Fadillah,” Daud said, adding that such allegations could destroy PBB.

‘Normal feud”

Meanwhile, Karim, who is known to “jealously guard” Taib, has denied that there are factions within the PBB Youth wing.

But he conceded that there were some “misunderstandings” which would not necessarily disrupt the party.

He described the rumoured bickering between Fadillah and his group as a “normal feud”.

He said that there were people who were not satisfied with certain things “but to say that Fadillah has lost the support of the PBB Youth wing is not true”.

“I dare say that support for Fadillah is still strong and I myself have no problem pledging my support to him,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

Karim, who was a former Youth chief, urged Youth members to stop pitting him against Fadillah.

He said there was a “certain naughty group” trying to create chaos within the Youth wing.

“We know there is a certain naughty group within PBB Youth that wish to drive a wedge between me and Fadillah.

“My advice to the group is to stop this nonsense and unite. These dissenters have big plans to take over the leadership, but we need not worry.

“Those with wicked hearts and minds will not go far,” said Karim, who is the Asajaya assemblyman.

But Karim’s denial of the infighting does not reflect ground reality. Thus far, 29 PBB Youth branches have issued statements condemning Fadillah, who is the Petra Jaya MP.

A few branches such as Tasik Biru, Kakus, Piasau, Ba’Kelalan and Bekenu, which have disassociated themselves from the 29 branches, have expressed full support for Fadillah.

Messy Umno

Last month, in an unprecedented move, Umno moved its election machinery into Sarawak following fears that mounting hatred for Taib and an emboldened opposition would snatch away BN’s much needed two-thirds majority in the state.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had literally parked himself in Sarawak and marshalled federal and state leaders from the peninsula and Sabah to campaign in Sarawak during the state polls.

FMT had reported that Umno campaigners who flew to Sarawak by the planeloads were told of only one mission – vote for Najib and not Taib.

While many Umno members believed that Najib’s presence on the ground did aid the BN’s final tally, PBB circles, however, begged to differ.

While Sarawak BN lost 16 of its 71 state seats, PBB won all of its 35 seats. Its native-dominated allies Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) lost only one seat and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) two. Buried was Chinese-dominated Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) which lost 13 of its 19 seats.

Sources close to Taib told FMT in Kuala Lumpur recently that Taib was “fed up trying to convince Najib and Co that he could deliver”.

“In the end, he just told Najib… do as you please,” said the source, explaining the never before presence of a prime minister in a state election.

The source said that regardless of what Umno thinks, it was actually Taib and his PBB network that delivered the votes for BN.

“He (Taib) is not bothered what KL thinks… as far as he is concerned, the Umno boys brought the circus to Sarawak, made a loud mess and left,” said the source.