PENAMPANG: PBS president Joseph Pairin Kitingan is easily agitated these days and his “desperation” is showing itself, said his long-time friend and a former party associate.
Fredoline Edwin Lojingki, 71, believes that Pairin, 72, is worried that he and his party might lose in the coming general election.
He said Pairin’s recent labelling of his younger brother Jeffrey as liar was a “manifestation of his desperation” to cling to a fast disappearing aura”, especially with the younger generation of Sabahans.
Jeffrey helms the surging State Reform Party (STAR) whose backbone supporters are Sabahans who are under 40. The party claims it has 175,000 members and has made significant inroads into Kadazandusun and Murut (KDM) areas which were once PBS and Upko strongholds. Both PBS and Upko are Barisan Nasional allies.