The PKR supreme council has rejected its disciplinary committee’s recommendation to suspend 12 of the party’s Sabah leaders and instead resolved to let nine off with a warning.

azlan It nevertheless upheld the one-year suspension of Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) pro-tem president Daniel John Jambun, deputy president Awang Ahmad Sah and secretary Moses Iking - all Sabah senior activists - but the decision is appealable.

 

It is expected that their punishment would be halved upon appeal and backdated to Dec 3.

This is the date when the application to register PCS was filed in Kota Kinabalu and reportedly withdrawn within 24 hours.

This would make the trio still eligible to contest in the party elections slated from Sept 18. They are contesting the post of division chief in Sepanggar, Putatan and Keningau respectively.

The other nine Sabah PKR rebels involved with the aborted PCS had their one-year suspension , proposed hurriedly by the disciplinary committee last week, substituted with warning letters.

The nine include Harry Manicit of Kudat who has been shouting himself hoarse that he was not a PKR member at the time the PCS application was filed.

kitingan project ic 250107 jeffery kitingan The 12 were all PKR vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan’s men and the move against them was seen as an attempt to hurt the Sabah strongman politically as they are set to contest in the upcoming division elections next month.

Jeffrey ( left ), when asked about Harry, replied by text message from Kuala Lumpur that “there was no time to separate Harry from the others”.

He however declined to be drawn into the other details of the supreme council proceedings. He conceded that he presented the supreme council with a four-page statement on behalf of the 12 errant activists. He did not disclose the contents of the arguments.

            

Jeffrey explains to supreme council

Malaysiakini managed to piece together the contents of Jeffrey’s presentation from some of those who attended yesterday’s supreme council meeting.

The presentation made reference to the press statement last Thursday by the secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution on the disciplinary committee’s recommendation that the 12 be suspended for a year.  

The rest of the presentation covered a number of areas including the proposed formation of PCS; reconciliation; withdrawal of application to form PCS; factionalism in PKR Sabah,  personal vested interests and bad faith; and the battlefield in Sabah and Sarawak in the next general election.  

Jeffrey’s rival and Sabah PKR state chief Thamrin Jaini tried to rally the supreme council members who were against Jeffrey and urged them to uphold the disciplinary committee’s recommendation.

He had the support of national vice-president Azmin Ali, his predecessor as Sabah chief, who was removed late last year by a majority of the 25 division chiefs aligned with Jeffrey.

The supreme council was split on the Sabah crisis with the majority in favour of closing the case against the 12 errant members. The others were either against them or maintained studied neutrality.

NONE PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim ( left in photo ) comparatively held his peace this time unlike last Wednesday when he pushed in the national political bureau, along with Azmin, for the 12 to be suspended.

The latter also implied that Jeffrey was behind PCS and should be sacked as well along with “his 12 disciples”.

All three to appeal decision

Anwar appeared to be compromised by his open admission in Kota Kinabalu during the state leadership council meeting last Saturday that he could not remember whether the peace plan of Dec 13 last year covered the PCS affair.

NONE The members of the peace team – Chua Jui Meng, Michael Bong, David Yeo – and director of strategies Tian Chua ( right ) argued last Wednesday during the national political bureau meet that the peace plan covers PCS.

They strengthened Jeffrey’s presentation yesterday afternoon when they reiterated their arguments.

The mood in the supreme council was definitely against the four Sabah division chiefs who had lodged a complaint against the 12 with the disciplinary committee in June. The complaint sparked off the latest crisis in the local chapter which threatened to embroil the party headquarters.

Daniel, one of three still facing official suspension, expressed relief that the ordeal was over and plans to work on his appeal today with Awang and Moses.

Guandee Kohoi, from Kuala Penyu in the Beaufort division and one of the nine slated to receive warning letters, was glad that the PCS affair had been put to rest.

He expressed his “heartfelt gratitude” to the media for highlighting their plight and winning them justice.

Former Sabah PKR secretary Kanul Gindol praised the supreme council for having a mix of members with “a good head on their shoulders”.