(Another) Mutiny in Sabah PKR?

Sabah's political grapevine is frothing with rumour of Lajim Ukin getting ready to take over the Sabah PKR leadership.

KOTA KINABALU: First it was Tamparuli assemblyman Wilfred Bumburing who declined to play second fiddle to Sabah PKR and was reportedly mulling either forming or taking over an existing local party.

Now word is that Lajim Ukin is set to slice-off the party’s current state leadership and takeover the reigns.

Sabah’s political grapevine is frothing with rumour of Lajim and Bumburing’s moves. Both are newcomers to PKR, having defected from Barisan Nasional last July and pledging support to Anwar Ibrahim.

Both contested in the May 5 general elections under the PKR ticket. Former Tuaran MP, Bumburing lost his incumbency but won the Tamparuli state seat. Lajim, who was formerly Beaufort MP, also lost his incumbency but won the Klias state seat.

Lajim is now contesting the election results for Beaufort. He lost the seat to Umno’s Azizah Dun by a 673 votes.

Post-GE13, Lajim had reportedly said he would set aside his NGO platform PPPS and join Sabah PKR, a decision which many here had anticipated.

At the time of his defection, speculations were rife that Lajim had struck a ‘deal’ with with PKR central pending the outcome of GE.

His entry into Sabah PKR last year was divisive and riddled with controversy.

PKR won an unprecedented nine seats in the GE13. Its partner DAP took three.

Ahmad Thamrin Jaini has been Sabah PKR chief for sometime. He contested and lost in the Gum-Gum state seat in last month’s GE.

The way it stands, the inner circles within a divided state PKR see him as politically impotent, more so after he failed to admit that he was fully aware of Tuaran PKR divison leader Ansari Abdullah’s plan to pre-announce the GE13 candidates ‘recommended and approved’ by several divisions within Sabah.

Lame leader

According to sources, Thamrin “has no leadership quality” and is only good for “fund-raising’.

“He’s too much of a Yes Man. To put it bluntly, he’s just someone’s puppet. We just don’t see any hope for PKR Sabah to progress further under his leadership,” they said.

According to the rumour mill, Lajim’s people have infiltrated 19 out of 25 divisions in the state and have managed to wing their support for the former Beaufort MP.

The questions now are whether Lajim has Anwar Ibrahim’s blessings to ‘re-structure’ Sabah PKR with his “own” team, and will loyal senior Sabah PKR leaders like Dr Roland Chia (Inanam) and Christina Liew (Api Api) and deputy secretary general, Darell Leiking (Penampang) accept Lajim’s helming of the state wing.

Borneoinsider.com, quoting sources, meanwhile reported that “Thamrin’s days are numbered” and that his ousting could take place “sometime next week.”

“We believe that Thamrin’s days are numbered. Even Thamrin knows that he is just warming the seat and when Lajim (and Wilfred Bumburing) crossed over to the other side, it was only a matter of time.

“This will be a severe test of Anwar’s leadership as well as to the numerous promises he has made to Sabah leaders, one of them being that they will get the chance to choose the leader of their choice,” said the source.