Founders want Leiking to quit as KSS chief
Published on: Sunday, October 01, 2017
Penampang: Bad blood between the founders of the Kadazan Society Sabah (KSS) and its current president continues to thicken after the former insisted that the latter must step down, one week after he retained the post for the fourth term.Jeoffrey Ekol and Lawrence Ollin Joluis, both co-founders of the association, said its President Datuk Marcel Leiking has lost his credibility after having his term extended to more than three according to what had been originally stated in the constitution.They accused Marcel of being influential in getting the constitution amended even before KSS' triennial delegates meeting last week to allow the post of president to be held indefinitely, instead of the maximum three consecutive terms.
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"It's morally wrong to amend it because this association was established on the premise that the president can only hold the post for up to a maximum of three consecutive terms," said Jeoffrey who, together with Lawrence, are also life members of the association. He explained that the reason behind the term cap was to ensure that KSS can expect fresh leadership and ideas each time after a president's term expires.Marcel has been president for nine years.The co-founders said for him to continue holding the president's post is unhealthy for the association which is not short of capable leaders.
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"He must step down. It's not good for KSS if he stays on because to move forward, we need to have a new leader who is better than the previous one," he insisted.They also claimed that Marcel is no longer fit to lead the KSS after having failed in his role to realise some of its main objectives.
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One of them he said was to increase the number of KSS branches to 12 as advised by the Registrar of Societies.He recalled that according to an officer of the RoS, 12 branches should be the minimum requirement for KSS to exist as a registered association.Currently, he said it has only five branches in Penampang, Putatan, Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and Sandakan.According to Jeoffrey, the KSS had been allocated with funds from the Prime Minister to support Kadazan students who intend to further their studies but until today, he has not heard of anyone benefiting from it. "He (Marcel) also failed to implement scholarship awards to deserving Kadazan students from funding given to the KSS by the Prime Minister," Jeoffrey alleged.It cannot be immediately ascertained if the amendment to the constitution with regard to term of office of the president was done during last week's delegates meeting. But Jeoffrey claimed to have been told by a fellow KSS office bearer that it had actually been done much earlier.Both he and Lawrence did not attend the triennial delegates meeting."We decided not to because our attendance would mean that we endorse the meeting and the amendment of the constitution," he said.The rivalry between the two co-founders and Marcel has been going for years with Jeoffrey, in particular, had on few occasions in the past issued public statements to express his disagreements with him.It was both the co-founders who in November 2005 went to meet with Marcel to discuss about the formation of a Kadazan society. Marcel expressed a similar idea but suggested it to be in the style of a Malaysia United Kadazan Association (Muka) which already had a draft constitution prepared for the purpose of its registration.They later agreed to register the society under the name of Kadazan Society Sabah.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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