In a press conference after STAR’s extraordinary general meeting to amend its constitution today, Kitingan said the party was growing beyond his imagination.
“I did not expect such a quick increase in the number of people joining us, especially the grassroots,” he said. “I was shocked to realise after the election that they had formed a club called Kelab Penyokong DDJK (Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan) in all districts in Sabah.”
He said the party had also attracted interest from the Chinese community, adding that it had been receiving inquiries from Chinese people in Sandakan, Tawau, Likas, Luyang and many other areas.
“In the past, we did not open big enough doors for them. But because of this huge interest, I think it is wise for us to accommodate them as well,” he said.
Over the past five months, especially the last three, he said, STAR had welcomed former members of Upko, Warisan, Harapan Rakyat and others into its fold.
He confirmed that at least 36 branches of a local party in Penampang would soon dissolve and join either STAR or Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).
Because of this, he said, the STAR Supreme Council had decided to amend its constitution with the support of delegates from all 25 divisions to increase the number of council members from 29 to 39.
“We also decided to add new posts such as assistants to the information chief and secretary. All these additions will trickle down to the divisions and branches.
“We need to do this so that we can serve our members better. We also decided to make few changes to our logo and flag to better represent our identity as a Sabah local party.”
STAR has two assemblymen in the Sabah legislative assembly: Kitingan and Bingkor assemblyman Robert Tawik.
Kitingan added that two more assemblymen were expected to join STAR soon: Nabawan assemblyman Bobbey Suan who officially left Upko yesterday, and Sook assemblyman Ellron Angin, who is vice-president of Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS).
“That means STAR assemblymen will increase from two to four or even five soon because there are some other leaders who have come to see me and say they want to join us,” he said.
On the upcoming court decision on who the rightful chief minister of Sabah is – former leader Musa Aman or Warisan president Shafie Apral – Kitingan said he was confident that the new government would keep its word to uphold the rule of law.
He said he and all leaders from Gabungan Bersatu Sabah (GBS) were ready to take over from the Warisan-Pakatan Harapan government if the court decided in their favour.
He said this was why he had met with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad last week, to assure the federal government that a GBS government would work together with Putrajaya for the good of Sabah.
On the 35 corruption charges levelled against Musa in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court yesterday, Kitingan said it was strange that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had chosen to charge Musa two days before the Kota Kinabalu High Court delivers its decision on the rightful chief minister.
“It is as clear as daylight that this is selective persecution. There are many more who should be brought to court, but they go off scot-free. Besides, the cases are from at least a decade ago. It is strange the graft-busters chose to investigate them now.”
He also laughed off allegations that he was among those who reported Musa to the MACC years ago, and that some of the 35 charges against Musa came from his report.
“I did lodge a complaint against him in 2007 but the case was dropped and dismissed by then-attorney-general Gani Patail. The charges read out yesterday had nothing to do with my complaint.”