SAPP DIVISION LEADER QUITS PARTY

By : AZMAN HABU

TAWAU: A Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Division Chief and several branch leaders have quit the party and joined Parti Perpaduan Rakyat Sabah (PPRS).

Ardi Arsah, the Tanjung Batu SAPP leader, said he and 20 other branch chiefs have joined PPRS as they felt that their struggle is no longer in line with SAPP, led by former chief minister Yong Teck Lee (photo).

“We felt our struggles are on different courses and not being appreciated all this while and in vain,” he said in a statement yesterday after joining PPRS.

He said as of yesterday, he is the Sabah Youth chief-cum-Tawau and Kalabakan zone leader for PPRS.

Ardi said he is in the process of establishing branches starting in Kalabakan and Tawau areas. PPRS already has branches in Tanjung Batu and Merotai.

He said PPRS president Mohd Arshad Abdul Mualap would make a further review of the party.

PPRS, though boasting Sabah credentials, is not considered a serious threat to either the Barisan Nasional or the opposition although it would do more damage to the latter than the former in a multi-cornered fight.

Sources said the departure of Ardi from SAPP was not unexpected as the young division chief had always been playing a holding role for the party in Tanjung Batu.

The state constituency falls within the Kalabakan parliamentary constituency, an area considered outside SAPP’s sphere of influence.

That rules out Ardi as a potential SAPP candidate with a PKR candidate instead filling the opposition slot.

The current state assembly representative for the district is BN-Umno’s Hamisa Samat who has been busy shoring up her support base.

Just last week she announced that the state government would build 500 houses under the People’s Housing Project in the constituency when commenting on a blaze that destroyed three homes and damaged two others in Tanjung Batu Darat.