A 40-year roller coaster ride for PBS

Published on: Sunday, October 01, 2023

By: Datuk Teddy Chin

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Pairin taking his oath of office before Assembly Speaker Sunoh Marso three weeks after he was declared election winner in the 1985 State election following a failed power grab at the Istana by the losers. – Daily Express pic

Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) held its 38th Annual Delegates Conference recently. Meaning the local party is almost 40 years old.

In terms of human age, PBS is somewhere between a young adult and a middle-aged man now. Notwithstanding the revived Usno and Upko of the 60s, PBS is now the oldest Sabah-based party. It is multi-racial, too.

This is written for the benefit of the younger generation too young to know PBS’ history and what it is all about.

First, we must understand the circumstances leading to the birth of PBS. It all boils down to one man – Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan. It is sometimes said that Pairin equals PBS and PBS equals Pairin. Just like DAP equals Lim Kit Siang and Lim Kit Siang equals DAP.

The then young Pairin who hails from Tambunan won a Colombo Plan scholarship to study Law overseas in the 60s and was the first Kadazan to graduate as a lawyer, I think. Upon returning, he joined the Judicial Service and became a Deputy Public Prosecutor.

In 1975, Pairin joined the newly-formed Parti Berjaya led by the late Tun Fuad Stephens and later Tan Sri Harris Salleh.

In 1976, Pairin stood as Berjaya’s candidate in his native Tambunan and won. Upon Berjaya’s victory and formation of the Fuad Cabinet, he was made an Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister.

After the June 6, 1976 tragedy that killed Stephens and half of his Ministers, Pairin was promoted to Minister of Local Government and Housing while his nephew late Datuk Dr James Ongkili became Deputy Chief Minister.

Everything went well until after the 1981 State election when Berjaya won a 2nd term, almost making a clean sweep; winning 44 of the 48 seats.

In the years that followed, Berjaya made a series of unpopular decisions which did not go down well with the people especially the KDM whose support made it possible for Berjaya to come to power in the first place.

Pairin did not hide his displeasure over some of them. On 21 June 1982, barely a year after the 1981 election, Pairin “resigned” as a Minister along with Datuk Yap Pak Leong.

In August 1984, Pairin “resigned” as Tambunan Assemblyman and two weeks later the Election Commission declared the seat vacant. Nomination was fixed for 24 September and polling on 13 October.

However, on 10 October the Kota Kinabalu High Court put the by-election on hold pending its decision on whether Pairin’s “resignation” was valid.

The By-Election was eventually held on 29 December.

Pairin stood as an Independent, using the Candle as his symbol. This made the song “Biar Ku Menjadi Lilin” even more popular among the Tambunan people during the campaign.

Pairin, as expected, won handsomely, polling 3,685 votes against his opponent’s 600+ votes. And who was his opponent?

Berjaya’s candidate was Roger Ongkili, another nephew of Pairin and younger brother of Berjaya No.2 and Federal Minister James Ongkili.

Roger was also elder brother of Dr Maximus who now heads PBS. What an irony and how political play can turn out to be.

The Tambunan people were punished for their choice and its district status was abrogated, with the people having to go to Keningau to settle bills, etc.

The defeat in Tambunan led Berjaya leaders to call for a snap State general election a few months later in early 1985.

This turned out to be a costly mistake on the part of the Berjaya leadership, just like Usno made the same mistake in early 1976 after Berjaya’s birth.

Pairin had in the meantime applied for PBS’ registration in Kuala Lumpur. But with the Assembly dissolved and Nomination Day fast approaching, there was no sign of its approval.

In urgent need for a vehicle to fight Berjaya in the election, Pairin announced taking over the KDM-based party Pasok. But just days before Nomination, PBS was registered and Pairin left Pasok to lead PBS.

PBS won with a razor-thin victory. The “magic number” needed for a simple majority was 25 (out of 48 seats) and PBS got just that number. The sole Pasok winner in Moyog threw his weight behind Pairin and that gave PBS 26 seats.

In that election, Usno under Tun Mustapha’s leadership once more came storming back winning 16 seats compared to just 3 in 1981. Berjaya which won 44 in 1981 managed only 6.

With that kind of a result, PBS was expected to form the new Sabah Government and Pairin expected to be sworn-in soon if not immediately after the election results were known.

But that was not to be. Pairin did not get sworn-in until the following evening, one day after the election. Somebody else got sworn-in during the wee hours on April 22 despite not having the numbers.

Sabahans have Tun Musa Hitam, the DPM and acting PM in the absence of Mahathir to thank for. He issued a statement in the afternoon saying that Kuala Lumpur had nothing to do with what was going on in Sabah.

That led the Sabah Istana to change its mind and Pairin was finally sworn-in at 8.20pm on 22 April, and the rest is history.

The first PBS Cabinet was sworn-in the following day, with the late Datuk Mark Koding as Deputy Chief Minister and Registered Valuer Bernard Dompok as Finance Minister via appointment as a Nominated Assemblyman since he did not contest.

But it was not plain sailing for the new PBS State Government.

Firstly, although it was the government at the State-level, it was Opposition at the Federal level, with Berjaya still a member of the Umno-led BN.

Secondly, the late Tun Mustapha who was sworn-in hours before Pairin challenged the latter’s legitimacy as CM, asked the Court to declare that he was still the rightful CM.

In September 1985 there was a by-election in the parliamentary seat of Tenom caused by the resignation of incumbent MP Tan Sri Harris Salleh of Berjaya. PBS candidate late Datuk Kadoh Agundong who had defeated Harris in the State seat months earlier and dubbed the “Giant Killer” won again.

But more bad news was in store for PBS. In October 1985, PBS had its first real test when five of it assemblymen quit.

They were Francis Liong, Thomas Angan, Ignatius Malanjum, Wences Lajingah and Bernard Chu.

This led PBS to call for a snap general election in February 1986, less than a year after its formation. A series of demonstrations and bombings followed across the State.

The demonstrators were apparently unhappy that the Assembly was dissolved at a time when the court was about to decide who the rightful CM was.

The court eventually decided that Pairin was the rightful CM. But the Assembly had been dissolved and the election must go on.

In the aftermath of the demonstrations and bombings, then PM and BN chairman Dr Mahathir tried to broker a peace deal between PBS/Usno/Berjaya by suggesting a coalition government.

PBS rejected it and withdrew its application to join BN, as the coalition was a condition for accepting PBS into BN.

Coming back to the 1986 snap election, PBS won 34, nine more than in 1985, including a couple of Muslim seats.

This gave PBS the much-needed two-thirds majority. Usno won about a dozen.

Dompok who previously became Finance Minister by way of being a Nominated Assemblyman, won in Moyog.

Among those who won in traditionally Muslim seats were Datuk Ahmad Baharom in Balung, Mohammaddin Ketapi in Lahad Datu and Datuk Lajim Ukin in Klias. This is important as PBS was viewed as a non-Muslim party from the start.

Pairin and his Cabinet were duly sworn-in again on 7 May, 1986, this time with less drama.

The number of DCMs were increased to three, each representing the different ethnic groups. Baharom was made DCM along with Mark Koding and Chau Tet On.

PBS’ convincing victory shut a lot of mouths and paved the way for it to be a strong state government.

Even then Mahathir who had been seen as siding Usno and Berjaya, threw his weight behind PBS.

Speaking at the opening of the new KK airport terminal, Mahathir said the people of Sabah had spoken and it was clear that they wanted PBS. That settled it.

Soon after that, PBS was accepted into BN. But Usno too. The nationwide or parliamentary election in 1986 followed. The 20 parliamentary seats in Sabah were divided between PBS and Usno, with PBS getting the lion’s share.

After that election, PBS was given a Federal Minister’s post, in the person of Tan Sri Kasitah Gadam and a Deputy Minister in the person of Datuk Kalakau Untol. Usno was given a consolation – two Deputy Minister’s posts. They were Tan Sri Osu Sukam and Datuk Railey Jeffrey.

With that, it looked like plain sailing for PBS. But it was not to be. Sometime in 1989 Kalakau was sacked from PBS but Kuala Lumpur refused to drop him as a Deputy Minister.

It was around that time too that Pairin added the word Dusun to the name of his Kadazan association so that it now became KDCA.

Not long afterwards, Koding who was closely associated with Kalakau, too, was sacked and dropped as a Minister. A by-election in Ranau followed. Koding stood as an Independent (I think) but was defeated by his former protégé Datuk Aliance Siringan Gubat, the PBS candidate.

Siringan was Koding’s political secretary when the latter was DCM cum Industrial Development Minister.

In early 1990, a few Sabahans (presumably PBS supporters) were arrested under the ISA.

They included Kadazan activist and Sabah Air chairman Benedict Topin who hails from Tambunan.

This prompted the PBS government to dissolve the State Assembly to enable yet another snap election. PBS won 36 seats in the July 1990 election, two more than in 1986.

The two additional seats – Bengkoka and Buang Sayang – were also Muslim-majority seats and this mattered to PBS.

Just 3 months later, in October the parliamentary election was held. As usual, the 20 MP seats in Sabah were divided between PBS and Usno, with PBS getting the majority of it.

However, out of the blue PBS declared it was pulling out from BN two weeks before polling. It also announced that it was supporting Gagasan Rakyat led by Semangat 46 president Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a former Finance Minister under Umno.

In 1986, the Chinese voters in Sabah punished PBS for joining BN by voting DAP in all four Chinese-majority areas. DAP was also part of Gagasan Rakyat and declared that this time around it would be a “friendly match” with PBS in those 4 areas.

The Chinese voters forgave PBS and voted for the party in all 4 areas, giving the party 14 seats in all.

But, sadly, Gagasan Rakyat lost to BN. Thus, PBS found itself to be an Opposotion State Government once again. Semangat 46 was disbanded after that and Tengku Razaleigh also eventually rejoined Umno.

PBS announced pulling out from BN on 15 Oct 1990. Party President and CM Pairin made the announcement while speaking at a PBS election rally at the KK community center that night.

The very next day, BN commenced an emergency meeting in KL chaired by Mahathir. Sabah was represented at that meeting by Usno president Tun Mustapha.

After the meeting, Mahathir announced that Umno was entering Sabah immediately.

He called PBS’ action as “Back Stabbing” as PBS had done the election nominations as BN candidates.

Immediately after the meeting, Mustapha caught the midnight flight back to KK as polling was only a couple of days away. While waiting for his flight, the Tun was interviewed by TV3.

He described PBS’ act as “Ini bukan perbuatan manusia namanya. Ini buatan kucing.” I am sure the Tun meant something more serious than “kucing” (a cat). But the old man, despite being angry with PBS, still had decorum or class and chose a milder word.

PBS’ loss was Usno’s gain. Soon afterwards Mustapha was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah Affairs), obviously to counter the PBS State Government.

Post-election, life as an Opposition State was hard for PBS. Not long after the October election, it was “pay back” time. PBS supporters like Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and Dr Maximus Ongkili were arrested under the ISA.

But neither Jeffrey nor Max were YB at that time. Jeffrey was the timber-rich Yayasan Sabah Director while Max was Sabah Think Tank (now IDS) Deputy CEO cum Press Consultant to CM Pairin.

Jeffrey was detained for two years in Kamunting, Perak plus the initial 60 days in KL. Max was luckier as he was held for only 60 days, the initial detention period in KL. His elder brother, James, my former boss, told me that he wrote a letter to Mahathir seeking Max’s release.

Mahathir had high regard for Dr James to the extent that he gave him the additional portfolio of Justice Minister apart from Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in 1984.

Interestingly, on the same day that Max was released, Dr James himself joined PBS. The former Tuaran MP did not seek re-election in 1986 and announced his “retirement” from politics.

However, just before the 1990 State election, Dr James who by then had left Berjaya announced the setting up of a new party – Parti Rakyat Sabah (PRS) and fought PBS.

None of the PRS candidates won, including Dr James himself and another former Berjaya Minister Datuk Ayub Aman, elder brother of Musa Aman.

After the 1990 debacle, PBS tried all means to mend fences with KL for understandable reasons. But BN didn’t buy it, instead concentrating on building up Umno’s presence in Sabah.

Deputy PM and Deputy Umno President Tun Ghafar Baba was put in charge as Sabah Umno Liaison chairman with Tun Mustapha as his deputy, which the latter did not take too kindly, as he had been a Governor, CM and prime mover of Malaysia’s formation.

On 7 April 1993, PBS formed a coalition government with Usno, an apparent move to please KL and the Muslims. This was done without the blessings of KL who threatened to kick Usno out of BN.

In the PBS+ government, Usno president Datu Amirkahar (Tun Mustapha’s son) was made Agriculture Minister while Usno secretary-general Askalani Abdul Rahim was made Minister of Culture, Youth & Sports. Two Usno Assemblymen became Assistant Ministers. They were Pitting Ali and Said Senang.

But not all Usno Assemblymen agreed with the coalition move with PBS. Among them were Sulaman Assemblyman Datuk Hajiji Noor and Lumadan Asemblywoman Datuk Dayang Mahani.

They were flown off to KL to meet Mahathir and soon Hajiji was made Political Secretary to DPM Ghafar. Hajiji also became a Bank Rakyat board member/director later.

The PBS+ coalition government was short-lived as less than a year later, in January 1994 the State Assembly was dissolved for yet another snap election.

Rumours had it that Pairin was eager to call for an election before KL had the chance to carry out a redelineation exercise so as to increase the number of Muslim seats and decrease KDM seats.

It turned out to be costly.. PBS won only 25, the same number of seats it won in 1985; back to where it started. With the six Nominated seats, they had 31. Even then, it was under the assumption that the Governor would agree with the 6 names submitted to the Istana.

And, just like 1985, Pairin was made to wait before being allowed into the Istana to be sworn-in. In fact, this time it was even worse. If in 1985 Pairin had to wait only for a day, this time he had to wait 3 days before he was allowed into the Istana.

While waiting in his car outside the Istana gate, guess who joined him to give moral support?

Of all persons, it was Tun Mustapha who had in 1985 challenged him in Court for the legitimacy of his CMship. Politics..

What happened? As stated earlier, when Ghafar was in charge of Sabah Umno, Mustapha was his deputy. In 1993, Anwar Ibrahim succeeded in replacing Ghafar as both Umno deputy president and DPM.

Anwar with his influence as Finance Minister managed to get all Sabah Umno divisions to nominate him as Deputy President. All except one – Mustapha’s Kota Belud division.

Later Mustapha told me that he couldn’t do it to an old friend (Ghafar). “Even if I am the only one, I will still nominate Ghafar,” he told me. Respect.

After Anwar won, it was pay-back time. He managed to convince Mahathir to appoint Semporna division chief Sakaran as the new Sabah Umno liaison chief, leaving Mustapha out in the cold.

This of course angered Mustapha and in the 1994 election he threw his weight behind PBS.

Even his son Amirkahar stood on a PBS ticket in their family stronghold Banggi and won.

But Amirkahar was the only ex-PBS+ Usno candidate who won. The rest all lost to Umno.

Among the former Usno Assemblymen who won on Umno/BN ticket were Hajiji and Dayang Mahani.

With that kind of a slim majority, it was only to be expected that someone would start jumping before long, just like 1985.

True enough, barely a month later on 12 March 1994, three PBS assemblymen quit and threw their support behind BN.

The trio included Kemabong’s Datuk Rubin Balang and Datuk Lajim Ukin (Klias).

But the greatest betrayal was by Labuan-based Nominated Assemblyman Zaini whom Pairin had appointed.

Even then, the PBS government could still hold on because it still had 28 including the remaining 5 Nominated Assemblymen.

The remaining assemblymen led by Bernard Dompok signed a letter pledging their support for Pairin at Sri Gaya the following night. The next day, Pairin went to the Istana to seek the Governor’s consent to dissolve the Assembly yet again.

Back at Sri Gaya from Istana, Pairin held a Press Conference to announce the dissolution of the Assembly, showing the letter signed by the Governor.

But hours later, the Istana denied that the Governor had signed the letter. A police report was lodged. Thus, there was a big question mark as to whether the Assembly was really dissolved or not.

With Istana’s denial and the election not forthcoming, over the next few days a few more PBS assemblymen started jumping. It doesn’t matter who jumped next but one of them was Pairin’s own brother, Jeffrey.

On 18 March, Pairin handed his resignation letter as CM to the Governor. He said since PBS had lost its majority in the Assembly that was the honourable thing to do.

By then, the number of PBS assemblymen (Nominated ones included) was reduced from 31 to 21. Sabah Umno liaison chief Sakaran was sworn-in to replace Pairin, almost immediately.

Sakaran personally sent Pairin down the lift, holding his hands. A touching scene never witnessed in Sabah’s history.

Jeffrey teamed up with Joseph Kurup to form PBRS while Dompok formed PDS (which later became Upko). Their applications for registration were approved by KL almost immediately.

PDS managed to attract many more former PBS assemblymen compared to PBRS.

When Dompok announced the PDS line-up back in Sabah, he was surrounded by more than a dozen former PBS assemblymen and MPs.

One of those present told me that he and the others agreed to join Dompok as when Pairin resigned, he gave his blessings for the PBS leaders to go their own ways “in order to save the KDM’s interests in the new State Government”. He even claimed that Dr Max was supposed to have been the PDS secretary-general.

Both Pairin and Max denied all these later.

After the defections, by the time the Assembly met for the first time under the new BN government on May 5th 1994 PBS had only five assemblymen.

They were Pairin himself (Tambunan), Datu Amirkahar (Banggi), Dr Maximus Ongkili (Langkon), Datuk Lau Pui Keong (Karamunting) and Edmund Chong Ket Wah (Nominated).

This means that altogether 5 Nominated Assemblymen had also jumped. From 31 to 5. The reality of Sabah politics.

However, despite being in the Opposition and despite having only 5 assemblymen, PBS managed to win 8 seats out of 20 in the parliamentary election of April 1995.

They won in Marudu, Bandau, Tuaran, Tanjong Aru, Penampang, Kinabalu, Keningau and Tenom. The winners included Pairin, Amirkahar and Dr Max.

In the 10th State General Election of 1999, the first after PBS government’s collapse in 1994 and the first under BN government, PBS managed 17 seats compared to BN’s 31.

By now it is evident that PBS can no longer win enough seats to form the government, no thanks to the redrawn constituency boundaries. Still, 17 was presentable compared to Berjaya’s 6 in 1986.

As expected, among the winners were Pairin and Dr Max. However, there was something noteworthy in that the PBS candidate line up in Bingkor was Dr Jeffrey.

Noteworthy because after being among the first to dump PBS in 1994, he had been associated with PBRS and later Akar.

So when he was named the PBS candidate, naturally eyebrows were raised. The unexpected homecoming.

- The views expressed here are the views of the writer Datuk Teddy Chin and do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Express.

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