THE internal feud between two rival groups in Sabah PKR reached a boiling point today as one accused the other as being disloyal to party president Anwar Ibrahim.

The bitter rivalry, which started since the party polls ended, is about the state PKR chief post.

Anwar had last Friday decided to retain Christina Liew as the state chief after consulting with all the 26 Sabah division heads on December 9 in a secret voting process.

This riled up a group led by PKR supreme council member Rahimah Majid, which lobbied for Liew to be replaced by Tawau PKR head Kong Hon Ming.

Rahimah said Anwar was picking favourites and that Liew was not democratically appointed.

Liew, who earlier dismissed an attempt to overthrow her, finally hit out at the group.

She said those who protested her appointment did not respect the president’s decision.

Liew also pointed to the memorandum signed by 15 Sabah division heads endorsing her leadership in the state.

“I refused to be dragged into this matter at first, but it seems they have gone overboard.

“The president had made a decision, but they continue to attack the president by questioning him,” she said at a press conference in Kota Kinabalu today.

Also present at the conference were 12 of the divisional heads who supported Liew’s re-appointment.

They are Kota Belud chief Mustapha Sakmut, Kota Marudu chief Sazalye Denol, Putatan chief Awang Husairi Sahar, Sipitang chief Wendy Agong, Keningau chief Sangkar Rasam, Semporna chief Mohd Amin Abdul Mem, Batu Sapi chief Anne Alsali, Kinabatangan chief Azmi Datu Tamboyong, Kimanis chief Awg Duramin Tafa, Labuan chief Samsudin Sidek, and Papar chief Dorothy Tiansun.

Two more signatories – Kenny Chua (Penampang) and Raymond Ahuar (Pensiangan) – were not present.

Two days ago, Rahimah said that the Sabah division heads’ votes for the new state chief had been tampered with.

She said that Liew only got 11 votes while three votes had gone to Putatan chief Awang Husairi and 12 votes to Kong.

Awang Husairi, who is also the MP for Putatan, set the record straight saying that he had not voted for himself, but for Liew on December 9.

Rahimah demanded the PKR president to revoke Liew’s reappointment, claiming she was not democratically appointed to the post by Anwar.

Under the party constitution, the PKR president has the authority to appoint the state chief, the decision of which must be arrived after consulting with all the state’s division heads.

Liew did not mention whether she would deal with the crisis but made it clear the 11 division heads who rejected her appointment would be invited when she forms the state council soon.

“I will invite them because I want to put this thing in the past. It’s not the time for politics but to work, “ she said. – December 19, 2018.