PBS MEMBERS REVOLT IN SABAH EAST COAST

RESIGNATIONS..... The boycott together with the mass resignations dashed any hopes the party had of shaping politics in this east coast district.

By : THOMAS PI

LAHAD DATU: A Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) leadership purge in this east coast district is threatening to wipe out the party’s presence here altogether.

Representatives of 20 PBS branch leaders here this week announced that their branches would no longer cooperate with the party’s new divisional leadership due to partisanship that has edged them out of all decision-making roles.

The revolt led by PBS Kg Terusan branch chairman, Hamid Awang together with Kg Tabanak branch head, Madun Buyong, as well as Kg Timor and Kg Pancuran branch chairmen, Abd Kore Bima and Chu Yan Yang respectively comes just weeks after some 2,000 PBS members from here and Tungku publicly announced that they were joining PKR.

The boycott together with the mass resignations dashed any hopes the party had of having a bigger role in shaping politics in this east coast district.

The latest trouble for the party that is only second to Sabah Umno in the state BN hierarchy comes after the division’s new leadership headed by Murshid Mohd Rais and his deputy Lo Tian Song sidelined all those who contested against them in party elections.

Hamid said this was against the party’s spirit and reflected a desire for revenge by those who should be working to unite members now that the elections are over.

Furthermore, he claimed, the divisional elections were not fair as the representative from the central committee was not neutral and had covertly backed the eventual winners.

“They (the new divisional leaders) have also refused to issue any circulars related to party activities to all the branches and are limiting it to a few within their circle. This has caused chaos within the division,” he said.

“We don’t trust Murshid because he switched to SAPP when Yong Teck Lee was the Chief Minister and then switched to Umno when that party later came to power (took over the chief ministership).

“Now out of the blue this guy appears and contests in the division election. We refuse to have a leader who has no principles leading us as it will threaten the division’s future.

“It is the same with Lo Tian Song. He was appointed as councillor and development officer for many years already, but what has he done so far to help the people? Dam Road areas continue to face water and power shortage, deteriorating road conditions and the Chinese community there continues to face many problems,” Hamid claimed.

2,000 join Anwar

The four branch chairmen also want the party’s divisional leadership to explain how funds provided by Lahad Datu assemblyman Nasrun Mansur to upgrade the division’s office in preparing for the coming general election had been spent as the office remained in disrepair.

“Because of this we are unhappy. We will forward our letter with the signatures of 20 branch leaders to the central committee soon to express our dissatisfaction, and at the mean time we will continue to boycott this leadership until the central committee gives us a favourable answer to this matter,” Hamid said

Early last month, more than 2,000 PBS member and leaders from here and Tungku led by Mohamad Din joined PKR during Anwar Ibrahim’s visit here. Din was the Lahad Datu assemblyman during the PBS era and was an ordinary party member before joining PKR. (FMT)