Will the political enmity between two siblings, Parti Bersatu Sabah president Joseph Pairin Kitingan and younger brother, Sabah State Reform Party (Star) chief Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, be finally "buried" once and for all in the 13th general election on May 5?

For the past many general elections, the two brothers had been embroiled in what was dubbed "the mother of all battles" in Sabah, with Pairin ever emerging as the convincing winner.

Jeffrey is taking on Pairin again in a repeat three-cornered fight for the Keningau parliamentary seat on May 5, with another candidate, Stephen Sandor, from PKR.

The constituency has 35,578 voters.

The PBS president is also defending the state seat of Tambunan in a five- cornered contest. In the 2008 general election, Pairin defeated Jeffrey in a three-cornered fight with a majority of 4,264 votes.

This time around, the two brothers will fight it out in what seemed to be a "battle of confidence", but pundits are quick to predict that Pairin will retain the seat despite Star's political hype that challenged the Kadazandusun and Murut maturity in politics.

A survey in Keningau, especially among the Kadazandusun and Murut community, gave a strong indication that the PBS president by virtue of being the Kadazandusun and Murut "Huguan Siou" or paramount leader, is still a leader to be reckoned with.

The former Sabah chief minister is the second modern-day Huguan Siou after the demise of the community's first paramount leader, the late Fuad Stephens (formerly Donald Stephens), who was also once Sabah chief minister.

The community strongly feels that the Huguan Siou institution, which is considered sacrosanct to them, must be protected.

Great loss

They say it will be a great loss to dislodge Pairin from Parliament in view of his immense experience at the state and national-level legislative bodies, something which Jeffrey doesn't have.

If Pairin loses (the parliamentary seat), it will be an outright insult to the Huguan Siou because the title is sacrosanct to the Kadazandusun and Murut community.

In the eyes of this community, Pairin is considered their elder leader as well as the keeper of the Huguan Siou institution.

By going against Pairin, the community will be detaching themselves from the political mainstream of the country, especially if they cannot form a government.

But to form a coalition with PKR or any of the opposition party would be detrimental to them because they had no inclination to work with the opposition in the first place," said a Dusun entrepreneur in Keningau.

"Star is not even a national political institution, given the fact that its actual headquarters is in Sarawak," he said.

- Bernama

Free PRU13 app - GE updates at your fingertips


Related stories

Sabah BN can't yet commit to 'special IC' plan

Pakatan expects to bag 11 MPs in Sabah

BN gov't gave Sabah beyond Pakatan's 20pct oil royalty