KOTA KINABALU, April 21 — A billboard in front of Sutera Harbour here showing the faces of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) state and national leaders with party’s Sabah chairman Datuk Sangkar Rasam omitted was not put up by the party leadership, said Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sabah chairperson Datuk Christina Liew.
Christina, who is also PKR Api-Api division chief, explained that to her understanding, it was done by their members, and she denied that it was by the party leaders.
She was asked whether they had anything to do with it considering the current controversy regarding Sangkar’s position.
“The supporters can support who they want to. We have no control over it. The billboard was already put up by the time we noticed. We should have consulted them or they should have consulted us but since it is already up, we don’t want to take it down since it must have cost them some money. Maybe we can still take it down. I have to find out the cost.
“There will always be this kind of speculations ... to me it’s just a speculative issue, don’t think too much of it. There’s nothing wrong if they want to support leaders in PKR, but we will advise our division members not to do this again, that’s all. Next time we will be more aware,” she told reporters after the PKR congress and Raya open house at Magellan Sutera here today.
On whether Sangkar would remain as PKR Sabah chairman, Christina said they are all awaiting the final decision from party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, which she believes will come very soon following his one-day visit to Kota Kinabalu on Sunday to meet and discuss with Sabah PKR leaders regarding the issue.
She said a PKR Supreme Council meeting will be held today and a decision on the matter is supposed to be made during it, but her personal opinion on the issue is that it would take several days to resolve.
Commenting on Sangkar’s absence from the event at Magellan Sutera, Christina said maybe he was attending the Keadilan 25th annual convention in Shah Alam, since they are allowed to attend it physically or virtually via a livestream.
“There is no political turmoil in PKR Sabah, no break up. I have said before that once a decision is made, we will all come back together to face the bigger challenge — the state election.
“So we are looking at it as an issue that is quite common among parties, not just PKR, and we will move forward after this,” she said.
Meanwhile, Christina lauded the address of Anwar, who is also Prime Minister, during the national convention, specifically his main focus to eradicate poverty as positive effects are already showing from the related policies adopted by the state and federal governments.
She said such policies are very much welcomed not only because the country has been policy-based, but it will be a difficult task to eradicate poverty without them due to a passed-down culture of corruption.
“So what we want is a firm determination in setting and implementing policies because this is what the people want, especially in Sabah which is rich with natural resources.
“There will be more challenges for the government to face in poverty eradication, but I can see from the Prime Minister’s speech that he is very determined even though some policies might not be popular.
“For that, I would like to congratulate the government, and I would to call upon all leaders of PKR and other parties in the government to support these policies.
“We have a lot of work to do but we are determined to carry them out, not for ourselves but for the people,” she said. — The Borneo Post
