Project M 1994: Till now, Jeffrey is unable to shake off his King of Frogs tag

There is much debate over who is the most notorious political defector in the Malaysian scene. One of the chief contenders in Jeffrey Kitingan, whom most Malaysians in the peninsula remember as the young and dashing younger brother of Sabah strongman Joseph Pairin.

But along with bell-bottoms and John Travolta dance-steps, those days have faded. Sad to say, Jeffrey is still known as the King of Frogs as far as many Sabahans are concered. Few have forgiven him for the 1994 debacle in which his brother's Parti Bersatu Sabah government was toppled, paving the way for the peninusla-based Umno to take root and flourish in the Land below the Wind.

Till now, both brothers seldom talk about what happened although they have remained on talking, if slightly distant, terms.

Time waits for no man

Fast forward to 2011. Election fever is in the air again and whether GE-13 is going to be this year or next, pundits say it will surely be within the next 6 months. Political bigwigs in the country, whether active, semi-active, retired or semi-retired, have been soul-searching the past few months, trying to chart a course forward.

Same for Jeffrey, who has been out of the government for a good many years. He must be conscious time is ticking down on him. It’s been an uphill battle all the way, so far, since he ditched the Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the latest in a long list of parties he abandoned, early this year.

Now, the chair of United Borneo Front, Jeffrey has been relentlessly on the campaign trail in rural Borneo, heading an ad hoc apolitical NGO pledged to reach across the divide in Sabah and Sarawak. He has little to show by way of results despite having what appears to be a well-organised machinery on the ground and the benefit of a continuing exodus of Dusuns from PKR.

It’s a Grecian tragedy that’s likely to continue unless he can produce a magical formula, as vowed, to dismantle the Umno stranglehold on Sabah and redeem his reputation for the 1994 debacle. For one, Jeffrey has no credible political vehicle and is yet to forge a consensus across the political divide although he’s reaching out to the voters and the people.

Not surprisingly, he been unable to gain trust from either side of the divide, nor from the ordinary people who seem to like him well enough but would be quick to dismiss him as a serious or reliable leader. What is his motive, why is he doing this and will he ditch us halfway or worse at the 11th hour? That is Jeffrey's biggest dilemma and a dark cloud he may never be able to shake off.

Double, triple or even quadruple game

At the moment, he is also playing footsie with the Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp), headed by the half-Suluk half-Chinese Yong Teck Lee. The Sapp leader is still remembered by the Dusun in particular for being in cahoots with Umno after defecting from PBS on the eve of the state elections in Mar 1994 to set up his own political vehicle.

But somehow, it Jeffrey who still draws the greatest criticism. Many accuse him of playing a double or even triple or quadruple game. They do not put that past him, a Harvard graduate who somehow failed to fulfill the great expectations of his close-knit community. At the end of the day, Jeffrey is seen first and foremost aligned to his brother's PBS. Everything else is a mirage, his critics say. They then point to the fact that PBS is now working hand-in-glove with Umno. How to ever trust him or Joseph?

A former PKR colleague Hassnar Ebrahim, for one thinks that Jeffrey is only interested in protecting PBS. He attributes this to his “blood is thicker than water” theory. Many other Sabah watchers too think that Jeffrey was only bent on creating havoc in all his past parties, including PKR, as a PBS mole before finding some flimsy pretext to leave in a huff.

If Jeffrey was genuine, “he would not allow his politics to be held to ransom by anyone”. The Pakatan Rakyat is “the key to dismantling Umno in Sabah but Jeffrey is not the opposition alliance in this common objective”, said one of the pundits.

PBS the power behind Sabah Umno. Really?

Patently, the elder Kitingan remains in the state government but as a deputy chief minister in a set-up where Umno holds the big edge in the numbers game in the state assembly.

There are those who say that Pairin is in fact “the real power in the state government”. They genuinely believe that he’s single-handedly propping up Umno in Sabah. If true, it can only be out of spite perhaps for those who defected from PBS in 1994 and others who were against the United Sabah National Organisation (Usno) being brought into the state government in 1985. That was the year PBS thrashed Parti Berjaya headed by then Chief Minister Mohd Harris Salleh.

This theory about the Kitingan brothers also appears to be a contradiction in terms among Jeffrey’s listeners deep in the Dusun heartland of the Sabah countryside, especially the older generation. They are less impressed with where Jeffrey’s going, and whether Pairin is behind Umno now, and more pre-occupied with the most vexing question on their mind: How can Jeffrey say that he was not responsible for the downfall in early 1994 of the PBS Government headed by Pairin?

In February 1994, Joseph was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Sabah, after PBS obtained a wafer-thin victory of 25-23 seats in the 48-seat state Legislative Assembly. But Joseoh had incurred Mahathir's wrath pulling PBS out of the BN to join the opposition before the 1990 general elections. As a result, Mahathir launched a series of offensives, including the nefarious citizenship-for-votes Project M, to retake Sabah and oust Joseph.

Joseph was forced to resign on March 17, 1994, after assemblymen from the PBS, including Jeffrey, defected en masse to the BN. Some of them formed new parties to become partners with the BN. Joseph's resignation ended nine years of PBS rule in Sabah. Since then Sabah has been dominated by Umno, and the current chief minister is corruption-tainted Musa Aman, the older brother of Foreign minister, Anifah.

A method in his madness

This is why Jeffrey has earned the dubious distinction of being “King of the Frogs”. It is a reference to his penchant for party-hopping, even from within the 'family-run' PBS. Critics believe that Jeffrey party hops to destroy any threat to PBS, thereby giving credence in Sabah to the “method in madness” school of thought.

Again, some question why Jeffrey is not with Pairin in the same political vehicle. In the past, Jeffrey’s supporters used to blame his absence from the party on his nephew and deputy president Maximums Jonity Ongkili.

Jeffrey is more inclined to dismiss such concerns. However, he realizes that he will make little headway among the rural votebank, the Dusun in particular, unless he confronts the old ghosts from the past which has caught up with him in the present to haunt his political future, if any.

He has few regrets, if any; on the political road he has traveled so far.

“I have been consistent in my politics so far despite having moved around several political parties since 1985,” explains Jeffrey to his listeners in the interior. “It’s the political parties that have not been consistent in their political struggle and this includes PBS.”

Can the brothers be trusted?

Jeffrey has since called, on his campaign trail, for brother-to-brother talks with Pairin. However, that does not mean that he’s no longer on speaking terms with the elder Kitingan.

The brother-to-brother talks refer to matters that the duo have not broached since 1994 when then pime minister Mahathir Mohamad, according to Jeffrey, engineered the downfall of the PBS Government through massive defections. This was after Umno’s entry into the state and the deregistration of Usno headed by the late Suluk Chief Datu Mustapha Datu Harun.

Those on the campaign trail learnt that one sore point with Jeffrey is that Mahathir, apparently keeping only Umno in mind, encouraged several rebel leaders in PBS to form their own political parties beginning with Akar (Angkatan Keadilan Rakyat), followed by Sapp, PBRS (Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah) and PDS (Parti Democratic Sabah). PDS subsequently changed its name to Upko (United Pasok Momogun KadazanDusunMurut Organisation). This is an attempt to trade on the defunct Upko which was once led by the late Huguan Siou (paramount chief) Donald Stephens.

“Umno’s priorities are not our priorities,” warns Jeffrey in explaining the presence of the Peninsular Malaysia-based party in Sabah. “Umno’s priorities are to maintain power to control and to dominate.”

As a result, Jeffrey feels that the autocratic system of Umno has created corrupt, arrogant, big-headed as well as subservient leaders in the state. Strangely enough, at the same time, Jeffrey’s supporters want him to join the state cabinet as Senior Advisor on the Borneo Agenda being flogged by UBF.

It’s uncertain to what extent Jeffrey is convincing the rural masses who see Pairin as still very much for Umno especially after the debacle of 1994 when he felt greatly betrayed by many in his inner circle including, many Dusuns swear, by Jeffrey. Pairin being Huguan Siou also makes a telling difference.

But others would beg to differ. Indeed, there are many who believe that “the Kitingan brothers, Jeffrey and Pairin, are trying to do a number on everyone in Sabah”.

Whether they are right or wrong remains to be seen. And the same goes for Jeffrey and Joseph. Until they stop mucking around, no one really knows what they are doing or where they stand. PBS may claim to be doing a great deal for Sabah, but sad to say, the great majority of Sabahans do not agree.

- Malaysia Chronicle