KOTA KINABALU, Oct 29 — Five days before PKR members here will vote in the party elections, state chief Christina Liew has called for calm after two members were arrested for alleged corruption.

The Sabah deputy chief minister said it was unfair for members to speculate of wrongdoing ahead of any official charges and urged all involved to ensure that the PKR poll here proceeds without issue.

“We wait for the outcome of the probe, let’s not pinpoint anyone. If they are proven guilty, then we can assess the situation,” she said when pointing out that the incident was isolated to one division.

“Even if let’s say there is such a thing, which I deny, it’s one case out of 147,000 PKR members in Sabah. Let’s be fair to the rest... just because of this case, let’s not accuse everyone of committing corruption. That is not fair,” Liew said to reporters today.

Last weekend, two PKR members from Kimanis, in Sabah’s west coast, were remanded six days by the magistrate’s court. One is a 57-year old candidate contesting the Kimanis division chairman’s post, while the other is a member.

They allegedly bribed the PKR central election committee to allow a candidate believed bankrupt since 2010 and allegedly holding two MyKads to contest.

Liew said party rules were clear that bankrupts were not allowed to contest, but again stressed that the facts in this case were not yet established.

She reiterated that the party would take disciplinary action if there was proven wrongdoing.

Sabah PKR has 147,000 members who will vote in 26 divisions on November 3 and 4. Despite the large membership roll, Liew said they expected only 30 or 40 per cent to vote based on previous elections.

“In Sabah, I don’t find it as exciting in the peninsula. Basically, I find all the voters very mature, and they will know what to do: They will choose whoever they like to be their leaders in the division or central level.

“Even if we have two or three incidents, we take it as normal and will tackle them as it happens. My mobile phone will be on standby for 24 hours these two days,” Liew said.

Party sources said it was a tight race and there was no clear favourite for the deputy president’s post so far.

In the peninsula, the PKR polls have been marred by violence and irregularities such as thrown chairs, brawls in some states, and even the discovery of a communication “jammer” in Kuala Selangor last week.

In Sabah so far, the most severe have been smear campaigns and suspected sabotage.