KOTA KINABALU, April 25 – The Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) general election machinery in Sabah is almost paralysed as four division chiefs and a deputy division head have quit the party to join Umno.
They are Sandakan PKR division head Mazhry Nasir; Kota Belud PKR division head Saidil Simoi; Kalabakan PKR division head Irianshah Yunus; Putatan PKR division acting chief Abdul Zainal Atin; and, Batu Sapi PKR division deputy chief Zainuddin Hassan.
They announced their resignations as heads and deputy head of their respective divisions in a press conference at the Umno Building here today.
Also present were Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Yahya Hussin, who is also Sabah Umno liaison secretary, and state Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
Lauding the entry of the four division heads, who were also state PKR supreme council members, and the deputy division chief into Umno, Yahya said they had made a wise decision after realising that only the BN government was capable of looking after the lot of the people.
He said, this indicated that the PKR division leaders had lost faith in the struggle of the opposition party in Sabah.
Mazhry said, the decision to leave PKR was because they had lost faith in its leadership, especially on the issue of Sabah's autonomy.
Saidil, who is also Sabah 'Orange Book' director, said he made the decision to leave PKR after realising his struggles with the opposition party was an empty one.
"But, should we allow ourselves in an empty struggle like this? Should we allow the people of Sabah to be ridiculed with beautiful words whilst the struggle is not right?," he asked.
He claimed that Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was a leader whose struggles were based on hypocrisy.
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