Oleh: JOE FERNANDEZ

SABAH PKR seems set to face renewed infighting following the appointment of Ahmad Thamrin Jaini, an Anwar Ibrahim loyalist, as the new Sabah State Chief.

Generally, the party's Sabah membership appears unhappy that Anwar himself made the appointment during the Supreme Council meet yesterday.

"We don't agree with Thamrin heading Sabah PKR since the party's constitution was in breach. Anwar had no right to appoint him," said former Deputy Sabah PKR Chief Daniel John Jambun.

"We will discuss Thamrin's appointment at an emergency meeting on Tuesday in Kota Kinabalu. Everybody will also agree that he's a poor performer."

Jambun indicated that only members of the party's powerful KadazanDusunMurut Task Force (KDMTF), headed by him, would meet. He described the KDMTF as a pro-autonomy group within PKR that controls 18 of the party's 25 Divisions in Sabah.

The KDMTF appears to be the proverbial tail wagging the dog.

High on the agenda would be a fax and hand-delivered brief sent yesterday morning to Wan Azizah by 14 Division Chiefs proposing that Keningau Division Chief Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan (right) be appointed as Sabah State PKR Chief.

Kitingan, according to a spokesman for the 14 Division Chiefs who briefed Wan Azizah before the Supreme Council meet, in fact outranks all the other Division Chiefs as a party vice-president. Hence, protocol-wise it would not also be the done thing to have any of the other Division Chiefs lording it over him when convening meetings of the Division Chiefs.

'Puppet' leaders

Thamrin, Jambun charged, is a member of a group dubbed as proxies of Kuala Lumpur. Many of them, according to Jambun, are also tainted by their suspected links with various syndicates who have been caught red-handed for their involvement in the bogus MyKad scam.

Others, it is said, have been held previously under the ISA for placing illegal immigrants on the electoral rolls.

Jambun was referring to Hassnar Ebrahim, the former Libaran Division Chief - the same Division now held by Thamrin as a case in point. Hassnar, who is eyeing the post of Batu Sapi Division Chief, doesn't deny anything.

"Single-handedly, I alone placed 15,000 illegal immigrants on the electoral rolls within the two years 1985 to 1987," admits Sabahan Hassnar in an exclusive interview.

Hassnar, who was held under the ISA (Internal Security Act) just before PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) returned to the BN (Barisan Nasional) in the early 2000s, also alleged that 135,000 illegal immigrants were placed on the electoral rolls between 1970 and 1985 by other renegade operatives.

"This is why the Malaysian identity card was changed from blue to one with the bunga raya motif and again to the present MyKad system," claims Hassnar.

The whole idea was to make it extremely difficult for anyone to trace the illegal immigrants entering the electoral rolls, he added.

Hassnar, who is presently suing the Police for RM30 million in a case not related to his ISA detention, claims the practice of placing illegal immigrants on the electoral rolls is still taking place, albeit more discreetly, even with the mobile court system.

"Tawau PKR Division Chief Kong Hong Ming was right when he recently alleged that the illegal immigrants in the district are getting their hands on MyKads," he added, underlining also Jambun's concerns over "proxies and traitors" in PKR being more than in the know about the bogus MyKad menace in the state.

No mandate to choose

Jambun was asked about Azmin's claim during the Supreme Council meet yesterday that he was advised by the Sabah Divisional Chiefs to inform the party president that she has the full mandate to pick the next State Chief.

"This is not true," said Jambun. "During the special meeting in KK on Oct 22, the Divisional Chiefs felt that Azmin had no business presiding over a session of Sabahans trying to pick their leader from among themselves," said Jambun.

"He should have excused himself from the meeting to allow a vote to be carried out. Instead, he was talking all the time and trying to railroad the Divisional Chiefs into a decision already made by KL."

Jambun also added that the emergency KDMTF meeting will also discuss Anwar's purported remarks during the Supreme Council meet yesterday.

"We are disturbed that Anwar said that 'there's no way in hell that he would allow Jeffrey to be Sabah PKR State Chief'," said Jambun. "If it's true, then PKR in Sabah is finished."

Anwar's explanation was that Kitingan had a hidden agenda (against KL) in Sabah and "it would be very difficult to control him".

Kitingan, when reached in KL last night at a leading hotel, expressed disappointment with the new developments (regarding Sabah) in the Supreme Council.

He dismissed the hidden agenda charge as "the same lies repeated by former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad" to facilitate his detention under the ISA in the early 1990s.

"I don't know anything about the emergency meeting of the KDMTF," said Kitingan. "I will know more when I return home on Tuesday morning. My main concern now is to help save the party."

Kitingan said that he knew that "something was not right" when Thamrin kept avoiding him and other Division Chiefs over the last two weeks.

Subsequently, he heard that Thamrin had gone with two other Division Chiefs to meet with Anwar in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, Oct 20. Ansari has since denied that he was one of the other Division Chiefs.

Kitingan keeping cards close

Kitingan, who is on a three- month sabbatical, did not attend the Supreme Council meet. Neither did Kota Kinabalu Division Chief Christina Liew. The sole representative from Sabah was Tuaran Division Chief Ansari Abdullah.

Earlier, according to reliable sources in KL, Liew had warned party president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in a short text message against picking a proxy in Sabah.

Thamrin replaces Azmin Ali who was forced to quit his post after 16 Divisional Chiefs expressed no confidence in him on Oct 7. This follows the act of 18 Divisional Chiefs including the 16, Thamrin from Libaran and Johani Abdul Halim from Silam signing the Sept 20 memorandum calling for Azmin to be sacked.

However, during the special meeting in KK on Oct 22 chaired by Azmin, Thamrin, Johani and Kudat Division Chief Mursalim Tanjul openly begged the outgoing State Chief's forgiveness for signing the memorandum, according to insiders.

Senior PKR activist Richard Jayasuriya, president of the deregistered Parti Pasok (Native), isn't surprised that Thamrin has been picked by Anwar to lead the party's chapter in Sabah.

Asked whether he knew in advance that this was going to happen, he merely responded: "It's a long story", giving credence to the theory that Anwar made his decision shortly after Wan Azizah received the Sept 20 memorandum.

This may be the reason why Thamrin, who signed the Sept 20 memorandum, did not sign the Oct 7 and Oct 25 resolutions on Kitingan.