PARTY president Anwar Ibrahim’s praise of Joshua Jabeng, the former right-hand man of Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian, at the convention in Miri has raised eyebrows among the grassroots.

Selangau division chief Joshua was only yesterday accused by 6 branch leaders in his division for blaming Baru of not getting Joshua a position in government or government linked companies since Pakatan Harapan took over Putrajaya.

Anwar, in his address today, said PKR leaders should not repeat what Barisan Nasional leaders had done – “steal, rob, practice cronyism and become a snob after they get elected”.

Office bearers of the Selangau division, and Kakus and Tamin branches in a statement said Joshua is “actively undermining Baru’s leadership”, adding Joshua had on numerous occasions made known his frustrations at not being appointed to any post.

They also said his grievance is fuelled by his perception that he had “made” Baru the Selangau MP and yet not rewarded for it.

They said Joshua has now “gone on a frolic of his own” and his actions are not endorsed by the division.

The fallout between Joshua and Baru became public on Tuesday when Joshua said in a statement that 18 out of 30 Sarawak divisional leaders had pledged to remove Baru as state chief.

Now, Selangau grassroots leaders want Joshua to apologise over “this misguided action”.

They said in publicly seeking to undermine state leadership, Joshua has breached the “trust of divisional members”.

They also threatened to report him to the disciplinary committee if he fails to make the apology.

Joshua in 2016 contested for the Kakus constituency, one of the two state seats in Selangau. – November 23, 2019.