He has the finger on the pulse of Sabah politics and he knows the issues close to the heart of Sabahans. But Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan has also been called many things: a maverick, the man who party hops, an eccentric. ROY GOH talks to the man about his plans, now that he has resigned as Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president
In Sabah politics, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan is very well known, though most of the time for the wrong reasons. He pulled yet another surprise recently by resigning as vice-president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat. He has left everyone guessing.
Jeffrey, who had joined four political parties in the past and was once held under the Internal Security Act, remains an ordinary member of PKR. He has, however, burned his bridges with the party. None of the options he has hinted at involved staying on in it.
Kitingan may have a penchant for switching camps but he is embraced by political parties because he knows the pulse of the people and the issues close to the heart of the people of Sabah.Jeffrey who had joined four political parties in the past and was once held under the Internal Security Act, remains an ordinary member of PKR.
Close calls for the Barisan Nasional in the last two elections, in Sook and Bingkor respectively, where he lost by small margins, attest to this. Attempts to get him to reveal his next move at an interview at his home in Sokid Villa in Luyang, Kota Kinabalu were met with a nonchalant “Bah, see lah.”
The word bah is a unique yet simple response from Sabahans to almost everything. It can mean yes, no, hello or goodbye and combined with different words can be an expression of anger, happiness, surprise or sadness. In short, it is as complicated as politics in Sabah.
Sabah folk may be able to understand what he is saying but peninsula-based PKR leaders will probably find his words hard to decipher. That is why it is felt that issues in Sabah should be resolved by a local.
A Sabah leader Ahmad Thamrin Jaini, formerly the state liaison committee secretary, replaces Azmin Ali as Sabah PKR chief. But the appointment, says Kitingan, was made by leaders from PKR headquarters. That only made things “more complicated”.
“It is not about the appointment but how it was made.” Considering he has gone from one party to another, will Kitingan be able to find a party that represents his true feelings, one that will enable him “to serve the people?”
Will he form a new party? “My brother (Pairin) did it bah when he formed PBS so why can’t I.” Or will he re-enter BN through PBS? It can happen but will it go down well with other PBS members?
Or maybe SAPP? Led by Datuk Yong Teck Lee, the former BN coalition party claims to have stealthily reached out to people of Sabah who wants equality in terms of progress and development. But like he said, he will need feedback from the grassroots first and until he makes his decision. “I am still an ordinary member bah.”
Excerpts from the interview:
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"Needless to talk about this Dr Jeffrey who hop,hop and hop non stop. He is not a leader since he can lead himself to any direction in his life so how could he leads people..." He should have sticked as an administrator because when he was the Director of Sabah Foundation one of his program the People Development should have continued because to date its the most effective strategy to reduce or minimize poverty in Sabah especially to the youths and fresh graduates. Sadly, the program was aborted and I suggest to Dr Jeffrey to go back to his roots and develop Sabah as the most progressive States and to reach the target in 2020 as one of the develop state in Malaysia.
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