Datuk Dr JEFFREY KITINGAN RESIGNS FROM PKR FOR UNITED BORNEO FRONT’S POLITICAL CAUSE”

PRESS STATEMENT FROM DATUK DR. JEFFREY KITINGAN - 2ND JANUARY 2011

“JEFFREY RESIGNS FROM PKR FOR UBF’S POLITICAL CAUSE”

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah :

Amidst internet rumours and speculations of Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan’s resignation from PKR, a statement was issued late Sunday night, 2nd January 2011, to confirm that Dr. Jeffrey has issued a letter of resignation to the President of PKR, Dato Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, dated the 31st December 2010.

In his statement to the press, Dr. Jeffrey expressed his disappointment that rumours should circulate distastefully on his decision prior to a planned press conference to announce his decision properly to the public after the New Year celebrations.

“I had hoped for everyone to enjoy their New Year celebrations and for the festivities to settle down before I make the announcement of my resignation from PKR. For speculators to jump on this and character assassinate without giving me a chance to even enjoy the New Year celebrations with my family and friends is distasteful and without manners,” Dr. Jeffrey said.

He added, “It was not an easy decision but it is the one I must inevitably make in the light of what I must do for the people of Sabah and Sarawak. I have taken many boats on my political journey and every time the boat veers off course and goes further away from my planned destination, I must bid the boatman farewell. For, I realised in Malaysian politics that at the end of the day, the destination was never meant to head towards Borneo."

" As a politician, you choose your vehicles for an agenda you believe in. It is hard to choose a vehicle when the Borneo Agenda is never really paramount or obvious. For whatever anyone may choose to say, I believe strongly that leaving PKR is something I must do to focus on what I have started in the United Borneo Front. "

"As a leader of this pressure group I will push for the Borneo Agenda across all divides to infiltrate the manifestoes and agenda of every political parties that consider Sabah and Sarawak to be equal partners to the Federation. This will remain a non-political pressure group led by individuals like myself who will push for a new political model even after I’m no longer around.”

Dr. Jeffrey also confirmed that if he is to form or join another political party it will be “a boat that will steer the way towards an autonomous Sabah and Sarawak which will bear the ticket towards a Borneo Agenda and the ideals of the United Borneo Front and one in which all his staunch and loyal supporters can say is a boat genuinely and proudly made in Borneo.”

“I remain very close friends with the PKR party leadership and part amicably with no hard feelings. I remain fully committed to the ideals and demands I have espoused in the United Borneo Front and that I intend to approach the negotiating table for our special rights and privileges with both the BN and PR West Malaysian alliances from a strong and new Borneo alliance platform. Whether BN or PR forms the next government remains largely irrelevant to the Borneo states if the Borneo Agenda remains irrelevant to them."

"If we continue to be disenfranchised and denied the right to participate equally in the political decision making process in parliament and denied the right to review our share of the oil revenue, there is no sense in this type of political allegiance because Sabahans and Sarawakians are then left fighting for the scraps and not having a chunk of a very large cake. "

"To take what is rightfully ours without a chance of veto and then having the audacity to call us poor is nonsense and I will not stand up for this as a politician. The boat is irrelevant as long as your journey is made towards your desired destination. I am for Borneo and remain steadfastly loyal to that cause for the rest of my life. I will decide my political future in due course,” he concluded in his statement.



Dr Jeffrey, younger brother of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) President and former Sabah Chief Minister, Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, made his political debut in the 1994 State General Election. He was then Director of the Yayasan Sabah (Sabah Foundation), a powerful post eyed by many since its inception during Usno time in the early 1970s until today.

Standing on a PBS ticket, he won in the election for the Bingkor seat and continued to be YS Director while also playing a pivotal role in Institute of Development Studies (IDS), think-tank of the PBS State Government.

Soon after the collaspe of the PBS government barely weeks after the election, Jeffrey was supposed to have been a founder leader of Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS). But things apparently did not work out the way he had expected it and split ways with eventual PBRS President Tan Sri Joseph Kurup.

He then joined Parti Akar headed by former PBS Deputy President and former Deputy Chief Minister the late Datuk Mark Koding.

When Koding announced his retirement from politics in order to continue his studies in Australia, he meant to hand over the party to Jeffrey.

But Akar Sec-Gen Tan Sri (then Datuk) Pandikar Amin protested and challenged Koding's decision and Jeffrey found himself out in the cold again.

Jeffrey, who was made a Senator and Federal Deputy Minister by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad during his tenure with Akar, then "returned" to PBRS. Before long, he challenged Kurup for the party presidency. Kurup won and Jeffrey, was again out in the cold and rejoined PBS headed by his brother.

Jeffrey then applied to join Umno but it did not materialise, with some quarters even claiming that he applied twice, thus causing confusion at the party headquarters.

Frustrated, Jeffrey ended up in PKR this time. It did not take him long to be involved in a PKR Sabah leadership tussle with Hj Ansari Abdullah.

To resolve the crisis, party de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim made him a party Vice-President.

All the best Datuk Dr Jeffrey..