Tomorrow Sabah's political gadfly Jeffrey Kitingan will reveal his political direction.
Jeffrey Kitingan, the local hero in Sabah and Sarawak, may be ready at last to bring some much-needed clarity into his politics when the United Borneo Front (UBF), his NGO, celebrates its first anniversary tomorrow in Kota Kinabalu.
Other celebrations are scheduled to take place throughout Sabah and Sarawak in the run-up to the 13th general election.
The word is that Jeffrey has an important message to mark the occasion and will, at long last, give a glimpse of where his politics is headed. It’s anybody’s guess as Human Rights Foundation Malaysia (HRFM) adviser Daniel John Jambun, a close ally, pointed out.
It certainly won’t be that UBF has been registered.
Registrar of Societies (ROS) Sabah Matthew Barin had recently put a damper on the works by rejecting the registration of UBF.
It appears that “Borneo” is a taboo word with the ROS for its connotations with “nationalism of the wrong kind” as speculation over the “UnBorn Federation” (UBF) would have it.
UBF remains, at writing, an ad hoc apolitical rights movement which works across the political divide to, among others, bring Malaysians in Sabah and Sarawak together as a Third Force in Parliament.
The Third Force will support either the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) or the opposition Pakatan Rakyat to form the federal government but without joining such a government.
Virtual shoo-in
The Third Force only wants to be in the federal government when it can put together and lead it.
It’s unlikely that Jeffrey, who has conducted over 400 Borneo Tea Parties – the Boston Tea Party comes to mind – throughout Sabah and Sarawak since early this year, would throw in the towel tomorrow.
For one, Jeffrey is a virtual shoo-in even as an independent for the Pensiangan parliamentary seat held by the beleaguered Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) chief Joseph Kurup.
UBF, Jambun suggested, could re-emerge as the United Brotherhood Front, a registered NGO.
UBF has yet to spawn an internal political wing because Jeffrey has so far, single-handedly, resisted any moves in such a direction.
Most of the UBF committees so far have been non-political in scope.
Senior ROS sources in Kota Kinabalu have confirmed that Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) – the same proposed vehicle which earned Jeffrey’s 12 disciples suspension when they were with PKR – has since been approved. The party has yet to collect its certificate of registration from the ROS in Putrajaya as the Home Minister – who has no power in the matter under the law – “has yet to give the green light”.
“Seeing – the certificate – is believing,” said Kanul Gindol, Jeffrey’s former political secretary, who pooh-poohs any talk on PCS. Kanul blows hot and cold with Jeffrey.
So, it is unlikely that Jeffrey will announce the formation of PCS, unless he wants to operate openly on a pro-tem basis.
Political wilderness
STAR (Sarawak Reform Party) president Patau Rubis, who has been in the political wilderness ever since he ran foul of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud years ago, is reportedly keen to hand over his political vehicle to Jeffrey. The UBF leader, it’s learnt, has accepted the offer in principle but therein the matter lies pending the receipt of the PCS registration certificate.
Malaysian United People’s Party (MUPP), or Bersama, is another possibility. But it is in no mood to hand over its outfit to Jeffrey. Instead, it is inviting him and his people to stand under its banner during the 13th general election. He will be appointed Ketua Umum or de facto leader of the party.
Bersama, formerly known as Setia, had one time been rumoured to be on the list for a Jeffrey takeover.
Jeffrey, according to his inner circle, has turned down the offer of seats politely but one can never tell since he has been known to change his mind.
Bersama is banking on its deputy president, Phillip Among, who was ultimately reportedly behind Jeffrey’s decision to quit PKR early this year. Among also heads the UBF land task force.
Among, who has made himself useful in the past as an unofficial Jeffrey aide, was the young man who assisted him (Jeffrey) in putting together the opposition alliance’s Sept 16 People’s Revolution. The plan apparently fell apart after Anwar Ibrahim directed another PKR vice-president Azmin Ali to take over from Jeffrey and one Saiful Bukhari bolted to the other side and spilled the beans.
The Wikipedia version on Sept 16, leaked recently, never mentioned Among.
Jeffrey has also been offered the post of Ketua Umum by two other political parties, namely Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) headed by his elder brother Joseph Pairin Kitingan; and the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), the 1994-PBS breakaway party headed by former chief minister Yong Teck Lee.
Yong, it appears, has reached a dead-end in politics after the de-registered United Sabah Nasional Organisation (Usno) threw its lot recently with UBF.
Younger generation
PBS will be a particularly difficult return for Jeffrey as the younger generation remains aloof from the party. The situation even prompted Pairin, at one time, to urge the young to support Jeffrey if they are not keen on PBS. The young crowd, judging by most accounts, is today mostly with UBF.
Some members of Jeffrey inner circle still want their leader to return to PBS. They want him to take up a state Cabinet position as senior adviser on state rights – read UBF’s Borneo Agenda – but Pairin, some swear, was against it unless Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak gives his blessings. Pairin, it has been reliably learnt, even encouraged Jeffrey to meet up with Najib on the subject. One report even has it that Jeffrey met with Najib not so long ago but the details remain sketchy.
It will be strange indeed if Jeffrey signs up with the Sabah People’s Front (SPF), a dormant outfit until of late, and formerly known as Bersekutu and linked with former Sabah chief minister Harris Salleh. SPF leaders had one time actively lobbied the UBF leader to “buy” their party. Besides the asking price being too steep, a reported RM5 million, SPF leaders also wanted seven seats reserved for them during the coming national polls.
It will be even stranger of Jeffrey returns to PKR.
Kota Kinabalu PKR division chief and supreme council member, Christina Liew Chin Jin Hadhikusumo, has been trying to persuade her political mentor to give PKR a second chance. So far, she has failed to make any headway. A couple of scheduled meetings between Jeffrey and the three PKR musketeers – Johor’s Chua Jui Ming, Michael Bong of Sarawak and David Yeoh from Lembah Pantai – fell apart always at the last minute.
Jeffrey, meanwhile, has gone public with the statement that the thrust of his politics is to make Peninsular Malaysia-based political parties irrelevant in Sabah and also to ensure that they stay out of Sarawak. Jeffrey has a strong political ally in Sarawak in the person of former deputy chief minister Daniel Tajem Anak Miri, the “lion of PBDS” (Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak), now deregistered.
Jeffrey’s strong, even belligerent, stand on Peninsular Malaysia-based parties operating in Sabah may be one reason why the issuance of the PCS registration certificate has been held up.
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