Sabah PKR: Who is Karim to say 75% members are unhappy?

Sabah PKR deputy chief Mustapha Sakmud (seated second right) with vice chairman John Ghani (right) and other party officials today

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah PKR’s 150,000-odd membership is still intact, says the party’s deputy state chief, Mustapha Sakmud, who dismissed claims by several disgruntled former leaders that 75% of members would leave the party if their welfare continued to be ignored.

Mustapham, vice chairman John Ghani and several division heads who spoke at a press conference today questioned the credibility of the former leaders who made the claim.

He said Karim Ghani, Nani Sakam and Adris Taripin did not represent the voice of the majority of the members in Sabah, who remained loyal to the party and its president Anwar Ibrahim.

Adris and Nani had both lost at the last divisional party elections in Tenom and Sepanggar respectively. “If they did not even get the attention of members in their divisions, then what are their merits for saying 75% of the state’s members will leave the party?. Those claims are irresponsible propagandistic accusations,” Mustapha said.

Last Saturday, Karim, a former Sabah PKR political director, held a joint press conference with Adris and Nani at which they claimed the majority of party members in the state were unhappy with the party’s current state of affairs.

Karim said many were upset because they had the impression that the state leadership has chosen to favour the Warisan party, without thinking about the interests of Sabah PKR and its members.

He also implied that state leaders were weak and would probably also bend to demands by PPBM in future.

However, Mustapha said that members should be patient despite the imbalance in distribution of political appointments. The transition from opposition to government would take time, he said.

Mustapha also said that Adris, the former Tenom division chief, was summoned to the party’s disciplinary board last Saturday for often being critical of the PKR president and state chief Christina Liew over social media.

He said Adris should have used the appropriate avenue instead of resorting to online attacks.

Disciplinary board chairman Sazalye Donald Abdulah said Adris had never apologised for his socia media remarks, and that his presence at last Saturday’s press conference also breached party rules. - FMT