Good riddance, says Thamrin, when asked of Ansari’s quitting

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah PKR wasted no time in telling its former State chief Ansari Abdullah good riddance after the former Tuaran division chief decided to quit all posts in the opposition party.

Ahmad Thamrin Jaini, the current Sabah PKR chief said the resignation of Ansari would not have any impact on the party.

“We respect his decision to leave, but there will be not much difference without him. We are not affected at all and this will give us a chance to reorganise the Tuaran division with fresh blood,” he said.

While admitting that Sabah PKR has yet to discuss on Ansari’s case, Thamrin (photo) also rebutted Ansari’s displeasure over the party’s failure to issue him any show cause letter after suspending him.

“We feel that everything was obvious enough. He had asked his daughter to stand against the PKR candidate and he was seen clearly sending off his daughter at the nomination centre.

“It happens to every political party, there is bound to be turbulence, it is even happening to Umno and Barisan Nasional,” he said.

“Things happen. Leaders will come and go, but the struggle of the party will go on,” he said.

Thamrin also took a swipe at Ansari by claiming that Sabah PKR has grown from strength to strength without Ansari at the party’s helm.

He said that Ansari has yet to submit his official resignation letter, but added he (Ansari) could have sent the letter direct to the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

Thamrin said with Ansari’s absence from PKR in the last election, PKR managed to win seven State seats and one parliamentary seat, calling it an achievement of sorts.

On Friday, Ansari, the PKR Tuaran chief in a Facebook post said that he had decided to quit politics much earlier, but out of respect to the requests from friends, withheld the announcement until Friday.

“I have lost faith in the Party’s leadership. I am now suspended as a member without any time period. I did not receive a ‘show cause letter’. So much for justice and due process,” he said in his posting.

A few hours later, his soon-to-be daughter in law, Dr Natassia Sarah, a PKR National Youth Exco from Sabah, handed over her resignation letter to its youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, at the Keadilan 9th National Congress, at MBPJ Hall, in Petaling Jaya

“De Facto leader of PKR (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) has destroyed my faith on his platform of principles,” she wrote in her Facebook posting later.

Ansari, a veteran politician is now under suspension for acting against the party.

By Jessieanne Joannes