The 'truth' behind PKR Sabah crisis

Malaysiakini
Joseph Sipalan
Feb 9, 11
6:00am

A lot more appears to be behind the latest controversy surrounding PKR Sabah - that of the defection of its less-than-a-month-old chief Pajudin Nordin, 40, to Umno last Saturday.

A leaked internal party report, sent to selected media via email late yesterday by one Anthony Mark, details a vicious power struggle between two groups, with the newly-minted state leader smack in the middle.

The report - prepared by PKR vice-president Fuziah Salleh - reads like a political thriller, with one group staging a coup against the embattled Pajudin, who was in turn 'whisked away' and held against his will by the other group on the night of Jan 24.

Fuziah was in Kota Kinabalu that night to meet with Pajudin and the 25 state cabang (division) heads, at the party's Sabah headquarters, to decide on the new state leadership line-up.

The report says Pajudin (right) was scheduled to meet with the state cabang leaders at 8pm that night to come up with the list, before Fuziah was to join them at 9.30pm to finalise it.

However, only four cabang leaders turned up, with 18 others who opposed Pajudin's appointment as PKR Sabah chief assembled at a hotel nearby.

The dissenters apparently stayed away from the meeting at the state party headquarters as they wanted to avoid a face-off with Batu Sapi cabang chief Hassnar Ebrahim, who they blamed for a "negative situation" arising at an earlier meeting with PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution.

Despite attempts to get the 18 to attend the meeting at the headquarters, they maintained their stance and instead urged Fuziah to meet with them where they were, to which she eventually relented.

Thuggery and 'house arrest'

According to the report, by the time Fuziah was ready to leave the PKR Sabah office to meet with this group about 11pm, she had also convinced Pajudin to ride with her in the car and meet them as well in an attempt to secure their backing for his leadership.

It was at this juncture that the situation became tense, with "people" believed to be associated with Hassnar - a known supporter of Tuaran cabang chief Ansari Abdullah - preventing Pajudin from entering the car with Fuziah.

Pajudin, who was also Ansari's (right) deputy in Tuaran, then told Fuziah that he would go with the group, and "promised" to be present at her meeting with the other 18 cabang leaders shortly after. However, the report says, he never turned up.

Numerous attempts to contact Pajudin were futile, until at around 12.20am when he contacted Fuziah to tell her that he was calling from the toilet in a place where he was "heavily guarded" and prevented from leaving.

Seven minutes later, he sent her an SMS in Malay that read, "Kak G (Fuziah), I cannot count the tears (shed) in fighting for the party. I leave it to Kak G to find the best solution. For Allah I want to go there, but I am surrounded and guarded. May Allah save the situation and the party."

It is learnt that Pajudin had a change of heart after it was made known to him that the 18 cabang heads who opposed his appointment as PKR Sabah chief had voted en-bloc to support the formation of a state-level presidential council to replace him.

The report lists six cabang leaders as supporting Pajudin - those from Tuaran, Kota Marudu, Sipitang, Ranau, Kudat and Beluran. Batu Sapi's vote was "suspended".

The 18 against Pajudin are from Kota Belud, Sepanggar, Kota Kinabalu, Penampang, Putatan, Kimanis, Papar, Beaufort, Keningau, Pensiangan, Tenom, Libaran, Sandakan, Kinabatangan, Semporna, Kalabakan, Tawau and Silam.

Pajudin released his own state line-up, online around 2.45am on Jan 25, in direct defiance of a directive that such announcements be embargoed until they are approved by the national leadership.

He also called a press conference that afternoon to announce his line-up, just hours after a press conference by Fuziah, at which she announced the proposed presidential council, saying Pajudin had failed to gain majority support as state PKR chief.



Moving forward

Reached late last night, Fuziah, who sits in the powerful PKR political bureau, declined to comment on the leaked report, saying it should not have been released without authorisation and that she did not know the so-called Anthony Mark who leaked it.

However, she said Pajudin's exit would not hamper PKR Sabah's efforts to get its act together with the guidance of the presidential council, which she said was a temporary measure to gauge the calibre of the cabang heads.

The council would be like a shadow cabinet, with each leader selected given charge of a portfolio matching the ministries in the state government.

Fuziah said the initial plan was to be "all inclusive", with the invitation extended to the six who voted for Pajudin, but they declined to sit in the council.

"We wanted to move forward with programmes, to get the cabang heads to come up with issues and policies. With a convention planned for the end of March (in Sabah), we want to help them set up a think tank to carry out research and also get them to hold regular press conferences.

"The 18 cabang heads are much disciplined and they really want to work. The 11 to 12 leaders (in the council) will be the potential leaders... hopefully, within the next few months, the real leaders will emerge," she said.

The PKR political bureau is later this evening expected to finalise the list of 11 to 12 cabang leaders who will sit on the Sabah PKR presidential council.

Majlis Wacana Sinar Harian: "Dafter Pengundi - Wajarkan Diwajibkan?"

Press Statement of PKR Batu Kawan Division Women Chief Dated 7 January 2011

As PKR Batu Kawan Division Women Chief, I strongly reprimand the unfounded allegation made by an anonymous SMS sender that I will lead more than 10 division committee members to step down together with our Division Youth Chief Dr. Rajan and Deputy Division Chief Abu Mansor. In which the wild allegation in the SMS circulating included PKR state leadership is attempting to stop the press conference to announce our resignation due to dissatisfaction with the recent MPSP councilor appointment. I seriously hope that such underhanded SMS circulating is not the development of the previous poison-pen email circulated for weeks alleging top-level corruption about illegal sand mining activities in Batu Kawan area.

Seeing the fact our party’s image is deteriorating, and the party leaders/members are blatantly split due to the recent tarnished “direct” party election. Party leadership, be it from the central, state or division level should show transparency in the yardsticks to evaluate any candidate. Likewise, PKR leaders should show higher level of allegiance to the application of the yardsticks and consistency to reinforce its ministerial team. Party’s appointment should not give the implication of patronage politics and it is not on the basis of quality and integrity. This shows beurucracy and feudalism is also rampant in PKR like BN, and failure of PKR to make a significant change in administrative system of merit and equity towards political and social progress.

Thank you.

Dr. Joyce Lee (李枂洙博士)
PKR Batu Kawan Division Women Chief

PKR Failed “Direct” Elections

PKR “direct” elections which should be a milestone in Malaysian politics have turned out to be a fiasco with party members leaving the party, holding mass protest, vituperating each other and crucifying top leadership in the media, social networking, blogging and microblogging sites.

The imbroglio has started when Dato’ Zaid Ibrahim who joined PKR for less than a year declared his candidacy for deputy presidency. This triggered PKR de factor leader Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim to interfere in the election by making sure his “right hand man” Azmin Ali would win PKR deputy presidency at all costs. False allegations were carried out by many top leaders including Anwar himself against Zaid by labelling Zaid as “Trojan Horse”, denying him was ever the PR co-ordinator and many more. Also, telephone calls were made by Anwar to many division chiefs to tell them who to vote by promising “sweets” would be rewarded. When party leaders and members saw how things were going, many jumped on the bandwagon. Further, Azmin, the incumbent PKR Women Chief Zuraida Kamarrudin and gang used every means in their positions, power and manipulated the party machinery to win.

Party leadership turned a blind eye to the allegations of electoral fraud, coercion, violence, malpractice and even vote-rigging during the polls process. This led to much frustration among party members who had hoped the party would set a benchmark in local politics. The furious and disappointed Zaid opted out of the race halfway and left PKR to set up a new party, KITA. Party members’ frustration finally reached its peak when the party election official results were announced and new central leadership are formed by ignoring the irregularities and without disclosing all the divisions’ polls results of the last two weeks.

To this point, not only no action has been taken by party leadership on the alleged malefactors. But the unscrupulous duo, Azmin and Zuraida have been crowned Deputy President and National Women Chief of PKR respectively. Worst still, the influential PKR Election Director post who will decide candidates for the coming general election was taken away from Fuziah Salleh who has more conscience comparatively and given to Azmin also. Meanwhile, Dr. Xavier Jayakumar who is aligned to Azmin but alleged using gangsterism in various divisions during the polls was given award on the stage during the recent PKR convention, as well as being appointed to the powerful central political bureau.

Many staunch supporters’ dreams have now been shattered and they no longer believe those lying and unethical PKR leaders will be able to lead Malaysia to a clearer and brighter tomorrow.