By-poll for Inanam in the works?
Published on: Thursday, December 18, 2014
KOTA KINABALU: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah has denied that party Supreme Council member Dr Roland Chia has stepped down as Inanam Assemblyman.Its Chairman Datuk Lajim Ukin said he had yet to receive any official resignation from Dr Chia."I am denying that Dr Chia wants to resign as the State Assemblyman for Inanam because I have checked with the State Speaker Datuk Seri Salleh Tun Said Keruak who told me he has not received any letter from Dr Chia on the matter.
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"Furthermore, I have also spoken to the Sepanggar PKR deputy chief who told me that Dr Chia did not inform the division of his intention to step down," he said.Lajim said this to Daily Express when contacted to comment on Dr Chia's Wednesday posting in his Facebook account and Twitter that "Due to health reasons, I will step down as Adun Inanam. I thank the Inanam voters and party leadership for ur (your) support over (the) 17 mths".On whether there was a friction between him and Dr Chia during a meeting on Dec. 5 over a leadership line-up issue, Lajim said he and Dr Chia are in good terms and there was no friction.He admitted there was a meeting at the PKR headquarters office that day but that they discussed the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah.
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"I invited all the party assemblymen and assemblywoman Christina Liew as well as the State Leadership Council (MPN) members to the meeting on Dec. 5. But we did not discuss the leadership line-up of the party.
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"Instead the party leaders including Dr Chia were giving their respective inputs and feedback on the RCI report. As a result, we decided to hold a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) press conference and lodged a police report the next day," he said.If Dr Chia was disappointed over not being appointed as the Sabah PKR Chairman, Lajim said Dr Chia would not step down as Inanam assemblyman, instead he (Dr Chia) will leave PKR and join any other political party in Sabah.To another question, he said he has received an official letter from the national PKR leadership in his capacity as the Sabah PKR Chairman on Dec. 5 and that a full meeting will be held this Saturday (Dec. 20).On whether Dr.Chia will attend the full meeting, Lajim said he was made to understand by Dr Chia's special officer that he (Dr Chia) will be overseas till end of this year.He also did not rule out the possibility that the social media account of Dr Chia could have been hacked. On Dr Chia's health status, Lajim said he is uncertain how serious are the health problems faced by Dr Chia.(PKR) Secretary General Rafizi Ramli said the party had not received anything from Dr Chia."Keadilan is trying to reach him to clarify his brief statement in the social media and his actual health situation," said Rafizi who is also a Vice President of PKR."I have communicated with the Sabah PKR leadership and his officers who confirmed that Dr Chia does indeed have health problems although we have yet to determine his status," he said.In this respect, PKR could not confirm the matter until they manage to communicate with Dr Chia.Inside sources, however, claimed it was not just about health problems but that Dr Chia was embroiled in a leadership dispute with Lajim Ukin during the Dec 5 meeting.The sources claimed that in the argument, Dr Chia threatened to resign and challenged Lajim to do likewise before leaving the meeting in haste. His personal aides said Dr Chia would probably be away until end of December or early January. They also claimed to be in the dark on the nature of Dr Chia's illness.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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