Beware! colourful frogs are poisonous: Tawfiq

Datuk Tawfiq Abu Bakar Titingan has described as a lame excuse Datuk Jeffrey’s Kitingan’s assertion that he was seeking solutions for Sabah when he decided to hop from one party to the next six times.

He said Jeffrey’s explanation for party hopping does not hold water. He said Jeffrey also needed to get his historical facts right.

“Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Hj Aman did not jump from Usno to Umno as claimed by Jeffrey,” he said.

He said that during a special Usno Assembly in 1991, all Usno branches and divisions made a unanimous decision to join Umno en bloc.


“It was then Musa became an Umno member. In fact Musa joined Umno when the party was in the opposition in the state at that time, but more importantly he did not party hop as an elected representative unlike Jeffrey,” he said.

Tawfiq said Jeffrey left PBS in 1994 to form new party PBRS but subsequently left it to join AKAR. He then left AKAR after failing to become president and rejoined PBS.

He said Jeffrey again dumped PBS when he failed to get into the mainstream of the PBS leadership. After leaving PBS he tried to join UMNO before the 2004 election but was not accepted.

“And history tends to repeat itself with Jeffrey rejoining PBRS but that decision was shortlived when he ditched the party after failing to unseat Kurup as president,” he said

He said after more or less running the entire BN gamut, Jeffrey tried his luck with the opposition and joined PKR.

“But old habits die hard and Jeffrey left the party when he was not appointed as PKR state chief. Today, Jeffrey heads STAR Sabah Chapter but I wonder how long that will last,” he said.

Tawfiq also wondered how come after hopping so many times among so many parties and even rejoining some of them, Jeffrey still has not found the solutions to Sabah’s problems.

“Jeffrey’s political career has never been static that is for sure. However there is a constant pattern of him always trying to unseat and topple his boss or in Malay we say ‘lawan bos’…always vying for the top leadership. It clearly reflects actions prompted by personal interest,” he claimed.

“It is also a career that is as colourful as the frogs you see in the wild but beware most colourful frogs are poisonous,” he said.

 source