Jeffrey's out of PKR: What's next?

Former PKR vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan appears to have finally caved in to intense pressure from some of his advisors around him.

Late last night, he announced his resignation yet again. However, doors are never closed, especially if one maintains goodwill. Now, for a change, let the guessing games begin on Jeffrey's return to PKR. After all, it's no secret that he wants to be deputy prime minister. Ego has apparently nothing to do with it, but making a difference for the better.

The take from reliable sources, borne out by a press statement late yesterday, was that he was particularly distressed by a report which labeled him "fickle-minded and doing an about-turn" on his of-speculated resignation. The fact that he had never indicated, up to that point that he was quitting PKR, appeared to be beside the point.

Interestingly, his resignation came in the form of a press statement from social activist cum lawyer Nilakrisna James of the United Borneo Front (UBF), a newly-launched NGO headed by Jeffrey to spearhead the Third Force in Malaysian politics. It could not be immediately established why UBF had to issue the statement. It's also not known why Jeffrey himself did not announce his resignation.


The purported reason for the resignation this time was that Jeffrey would be flogging the Borneo agenda of the Third Force through UBF across the political divide.

The speculation in Kota Kinabalu is that some Sabah PKR activists have been seriously "compromised" by BN and apparently stand to personally benefit, one way or other, by Jeffrey's resignation from the party. If BN thinks that Jeffrey's exit will pave the way for the collapse of PKR in Sabah and Sarawak, they are wrong.

As PKR Kota Kinabalu division chief Christina Liew told the local media recently, Jeffrey's exit from PKR, if it comes, will not have any impact on the opposition. The younger generation, having seen what the BN did to their elders, is unlikely to ditch PKR in Sabah and Sarawak.

The fact that Liew, a close Jeffrey ally, could make the "impact" statement about him would have been thought at one time as unthinkable. Liew has a reputation, not altogether wrong, for nodding in agreement over everything that Jeffrey says and "even nodding in agreement when he's not saying anything".

Liew thinks that Jeffrey would not head for the BN, "as it's not his cup of tea". But this is where she doesn't know him that well. Jeffrey has a standing invitation from his elder brother in politics, Joseph Pairin, to re-join the Parti Bersatu Sabah, a vehicle that he helped co-found in 1985.

Will he too form a new party?

Now that Jeffrey has finally quit PKR, for all intents and purposes, it's difficult to see how his struggle stands to benefit.

True, the Borneo agenda is a carrot with which Jeffrey can lure both sides of the political divide. Political parties have the promise of his "support" for them in the general election if they accept the Borneo agenda. However, without a stick to cajole compliance from important players, he would not be taken seriously by anyone in the political theatre.

In fact, he risks being isolated, marginalised and eliminated from the political scene in Sabah and Sarawak.

Jeffrey could have effectively used his last toeholds in PKR – Pensiangan division chief and de facto PKR chief for Sabah and Sarawak – to play off Pakatan Rakyat against BN on the Borneo agenda.

Now, this will not happen because he got carried away by the party politics, and failed to draw a battle line somewhere in the sand. He shed his newly-found and hard-fought image in PKR of being consistent and solid, a shrewd tactician and strategist. He went back to an earlier image, his alter ego, of caving in to pressure from his advisors.

Jeffrey has hinted, in Nilakrisna's press statement, about the possibility of a new political vehicle to champion the Borneo agenda.

Forming a new political party, this time headed by him, would be simply jumping on the bandwagon and politicising the Borneo agenda without the attendant unity needed. In any case, such a political party would not win more than one parliamentary seat - Pensiangan - and perhaps two state seats - Sook and Nabawan - in the immediate future.

Had Jeffrey stayed on in PKR and applied to form a new political party, it's very likely that he would have obtained the registration for a new political party in record time.

By resigning, Jeffrey has thrown away his last pressure point with BN. He's unlikely to win registration or in time for the new political party that some of his supporters want so badly.

The Special Branch is unlikely to clear Jeffrey's bid for a new political party, pointing at his two-term stint in detention under the Internal Security Act, and will advise the Registrar of Societies accordingly that "he remains a threat to national security", whatever it means.

But it has been suggested, again by some advisors around Jeffrey, that he could take over one of two existing political parties in Sabah, i.e. Setia or Bersekutu, the latter now known as Sabah People's Front.