Unfair to totally blame Pairin, says Lajim
Published on: Monday, November 24, 2014
KOTA KINABALU: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah Chairman Datuk Lajim Ukin said it was unfair for former PBS Assemblyman for Bingkor, Thomas Angan, to totally blame PBS President Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan for the decision to pull out the party from the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in 1990.He said Pairin made the decision due to pressure from then senior leaders of the party."It is unfair to totally blame Pairin. I am not trying to defend Pairin here, but as a founder of PBS and a former PBS Vice-President as well as Supreme Council member, I feel it is imperative for me to tell the truth about what had happened at that time.
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"Several senior leaders of the party then, who are now heading their political parties, had pressured Pairin to leave BN with the aim of defeating DAP candidates in the parliamentary election."It was proven when almost all DAP candidates lost in the parliamentary election while PBS won most seats," Lajim said.He was commenting on a statement by Angan that Pairin will still be the Chief Minister today and PBS ruling the State for a long time to come had he not "double-crossed" former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who was the then national BN Chairman.Angan, who eventually fell out of favour with PBS, also claimed that Sabahans paid a heavy price for Pairin's political blunders.
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He also claimed that if Pairin did not pull out, several peninsula-based political parties like Umno, MCA, MIC and Gerakan would definitely not have come to Sabah."What I am saying here is based on facts. Actually, several senior leaders in PBS at that time, including me, did not agree that the party should leave BN.
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