According to a report in Borneo Post Online today, Boniface submitted his resignation on April 17, after PKR failed to secure a nomination for him in the Tasik Biru constituency in the upcoming state election and gave way instead to DAP to contest the seat against BN direct candidate Henry Harry Jinep.
Boniface said DAP got the nod to contest the seat despite PKR naming him as a potential candidate and a public poll showing PKR enjoyed more support in Tasik Biru than DAP.
He added that PKR had also failed to secure a nomination for him to contest in the 13th General Election in 2013 as the Mas Gading parliamentary seat was given to DAP.
Boniface said the reasons that led to PKR’s failures in securing a seat for him prompted his resignation.
These reasons, he said, were the dynamics of the politics at national level, particularly the position of PKR in the coalition vis-à-vis DAP in both the Penang and Selangor governments.
“Around the negotiating table, PKR can be likened to a young and small schoolboy trying his best to stay safe in a very hostile environment.”
“In this environment, PKR’s ability to contest in any seat where there is an overlapping claim from DAP is entirely at the pleasure of DAP,” he said.
He said under such conditions, the instinct among PKR decision-makers was geared towards self-preservation, hence the decision to give in to DAP’s demands.
Boniface said he did not believe these dynamics would change, hence remaining with PKR to contest future elections in the area would be an “exercise in futility.”
Boniface, who lost in the 2011 elections to BN-SUPP’s Ranum Mina in the Opar seat, ruled out contesting as an Independent.
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