Jeffrey: Pairin’s memory ‘failing him’

Jeffrey Kitingan reminded his brother that it was Chief Minister Musa Aman who had radically reduced the numbers of Kadazandusun officers in Yayasan Sabah.

KOTA KINABALU:  Joseph Pairin Kitingan, the president of Parti Bersatu Sabah is now making up stories and talking nonsense according to his younger brother Dr Jeffrey, who helms local opposition State Reform Party (STAR).

“I am shocked that my brother’s memory is already failing him. He has already forgotten that I was dismissed from my post as Yayasan Sabah director after the Umno/BN government wrested away power from PBS in 1994.

“And he should also know that I was about to sue the government for wrongful dismissal, but they decided to avert a trial and paid me an out-of-court settlement.

“Under such circumstances, how was I to take away my friends, and where would I take them to?” asked Jeffrey in reference to Pairin’s statement in Tambunan yesterday.

Pairin had recently told participants at the ‘Pemimpin Bersama Rakyat’ programme in Kampung Dabata in Tambunan that Jeffrey had taken the Kadazandusun people away from Yayasan Sabah.

Said Pairin: “He (Jeffrey) took his friends from Yayasan Sabah with him and as a result we lost the Kadazandusun people there.”

In a statement issued yesterday,  Jeffrey reminded Pairin that the reason there are no Kadazandusuns in senior positions in Yayasan Sabah today is because the state Barisan Nasional government under the Chief Minister Musa Aman, decided to radically reduce the number of employees in Yayasan Sabah in 2001 or 2002 by offering them VSS packages.

“And most of those affected were Kadazandusun officers. So how on earth did Pairin come up with the silly idea that I was the cause of them leaving Yayasan Sabah?” Jeffrey said.

He said Pairin is also trying hard to curry up more favour with his BN bosses by continuously heaping praises on the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister.

‘RCI not moving’
Jeffrey also regretted that Pairin, in his speech in Tambunan,  had questioned the people’s support of the opposition when the government is busy giving away gifts to the people in the form of gravity water, community halls and others.

“Is Pairin saying that after 49 years of independence, BN is only able to give gravity water and balai rayas (community halls)?

“Why not giving something more substantial like piped water, roads for the villages, and economic programmes to make them financially self-reliant?

It is exactly because of this lethargy of the government that is causing the people to look for change, and they see this opportunity in the opposition parties which have more innovative ideas,” said Jeffrey.

He said what the government should be doing is kick-starting the economy of the people in the interior and the state.

He also took at dig at Pairin claim that PBS has pushed for the Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah.

“Pairin is so proud of the formation of the RCI, and claims that PBS is still speaking up for the people’s rights.

“But the RCI is not even moving, and it is obvious it was announced to shut the people up about the urgency of solving the problems of illegal immigrants,” said Jeffrey.