Newly-appointed Sabah PKR chief Ahmad Thamrin Jaini is in Sandakan wringing his hands at the growing disarray on his watch in the party.

Rebel division chiefs are continuing to pile on the pressure through a flurry of activities, directing their scorn at the PKR headquarters.

This is inviting counter-attacks from the divisions which backed Thamrin and the latter couldn't say how he planned to contain the festering situation in the Sabah chapter.

"I will cross the bridge when I come to it," said Thamrin who has yet to still get over a recent tragedy in his family and has reportedly not been himself lately.

He declined to dwell on allegations that he's a puppet state chief in the hands of a couple of division chiefs who lobbied for him with party advisor Anwar Ibrahim.

syed hussin ali sabah sarawak 210608 ansari Acting Pensiangan division chief Apandy Lukan Angindi let the cat out of the bag when he complained to former PKR state secretary Kanul Gindul that Tuaran division chief Ansari Abdullah ( right ) had summoned him and other division chiefs to meet with him in Kota Kinabalu.

Ostensibly, the meeting is to prevent rebel divisions from dissolving themselves and members leaving the party en masse. Pensiangan is one of the divisions aligned with Keningau division chief Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan whose bid for the state chief's post was shot down by Anwar.

"This clearly shows that Thamrin is just a puppet. Others are doing the dirty work from behind him and when the time comes, he will be blamed," said Jeffrey. "Thamrin is a good man keeping company with people who are bad for the party."

Ansari and the division chiefs aligned with Thamrin, however, could not get to the Papar division in time. The division, along the west coast, had an emergency meeting at 11am yesterday to dissolve itself and quit the party en masse. The matter was later put on hold.

Appointment against party constitution

"We are calling upon the party central leadership to review and revoke Thamrin's appointment as the new state liaison chief for Sabah PKR and to listen to the majority voice within the party which has chosen Jeffrey to be the Sabah PKR chief," said Papar division chief Sylvester Balon Mujim.

"How come the party central leadership appoints Thamrin when he has only nine divisions supporting him?" he asked.

His division was thus, of the opinion that Thamrin's appointment last Sunday was "improper, undemocratic and against the party's principles and constitution".

Asked whether they would join Barisan Nasional (BN) if their demand is not entertained, he categorically replied they would not.

The Papar meet is being disputed by Tawau division chief Kong Hong Min who stressed that there was no duly constituted meeting and cited the party constitution.

"I have had the press calling me and that's what I told them," said Kong, the former deputy state chief.

"In Papar, we have many good leaders who can hold the fort. The party is stable, and the on the ground situation is improving," he added.

Kota Kinabalu division chief Christina Liew ( left ), a practicing lawyer, insists that the Papar division held a proper meeting and disputed Kong's claim.

NONE She also claimed that they passed a resolution to dissolve the division and quit the party en masse but agreed this has now been put on hold.

Deputy wanita chief and wanita chief of Papar, Evelyn Gobile, is not amused by Kong's views to the press and advised him to confine himself to his Tawau division.

According to her, the division is now giving two weeks to PKR headquarters, and in particular Anwar, to resolve all the grievances of the state chapter.

"Anwar has to come here and rectify the situation. He can't take on a leader chosen by us and expect to win. We don't want proxy leaders to be thrust on us," warned Gobile.

"If he (Anwar) can accept the choice of party members in Sarawak - Baru Bian is the new state chief - he should accept Jeffrey as our choice."

Jeffrey: I'm still with the party

The initial agenda in Papar, admitted Gobile, was the dissolution of the division and a mass exodus of members from the party.

However, Jeffrey counseled caution, and the meeting instead dwelt on a host of local grievances with the PKR headquarters.

Eventually, the divisional committee meeting became a joint meeting of divisional leaders and 16 members of the KadazanDusunMurut Task Force (KDMTF).

Gobile also disclosed that Sabah PKR wanita will meet tomorrow night while the youth wing plans a similar meeting soon.

Jeffrey confirmed that he had stepped in to defuse the temperature in Papar. "They were getting a bit carried away and I advised them not to jump the gun," he said.

"They should know that I'm still with the party. They should only think about leaving if I quit which I don't plan to do at the moment," said Jeffrey.

He added that he would be holding a full meeting of division chiefs today evening.

He denied that he may announce his own state line-up under his leadership before Thamrin can finalise his line-up.

Anwar, Jeffrey had earlier disclosed, has agreed to let the latter fill Thamrin's line-up with his people but this has been rejected by Jeffrey.

anwar laughing The offer was seen as a bid to soften the blow after Jeffrey's nomination for the post was rejected by Anwar on the grounds that "a non-Muslim state chief had already been appointed in neighbouring Sarawak".

Jeffrey sees his selection as one based on democratic practices and he doesn't want the question of one's religion to be brought into the picture to cloud the issue.

"Anwar ( right) has to stop thinking along MIC (Malay, Indian, Chinese) lines in Sabah and Sarawak," reiterated Jeffrey.

"We don't want the racial polarisation in Peninsular Malaysia to be introduced to our two states. My election has nothing to do with religion."