Joseph Pairin Kitingan
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Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Pairin Kitingan (born August 17, 1940) is a Malaysian politician and was the sixth Chief Minister of Sabah, an oil- and timber-rich state in Malaysia. He held the post from April 1985 to March 1994. Currently, he is the Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Rural Development of Sabah and has held the post since March 2004.
Datuk Pairin was born in a little town called Papar. He attended La Salle secondary school, an all boy school located in Kota Kinabalu. He won a Colombo Plan scholarship and went on to read law at the University of Adelaide and upon completing his study, he came back to Sabah to work as a State Counsel with the Sabah Legal Department and was later made Deputy Public Prosecutor. Subsequently, he practised law with a local legal firm.
[edit] Political career
Datuk Pairin began his active political career in 1975. He was elected a Member of the Sabah Legislative Assembly for the Tambunan constituency in 1976 under the BERJAYA party’s ticket, a party which was led by Datuk Harris Bin Mohd Salleh (Chief Minister 1976-1985) and was appointed as a minister in the cabinet of the ruling party. Tambunan has become his stronghold ever since and to this day, no political opponent has ever managed to make any significant dent in the Tambunan people’s support for him.
Over time, Datuk Pairin became disillusioned with the party’s leadership and opposed some of the party’s policies. He felt that the party had deviated from its original struggle. Unable to betray his oath of office and his principles, he stood firm and consequently, he was forced to leave the ruling party.
[edit] Awakening
In December 1984, he stood alone as an independent candidate against the might and riches of the ruling party to defend his seat in the Tambunan by-election. He had to contend with unfair campaign tactics like “vote buying” through on the spot approval of development projects and other private amenities. His leadership in a state within a federation which official religion is Islam was also questioned because of his religion. The ruling party, which was a component of the Barisan Nasional (National Coalition – ruling parties of the federal government), had no qualms in using the sensitive race card issues which is something that is generally shunned in a multi-racial country. Despite overwhelming odds and seemingly lost cause, Datuk Pairin won triumphantly with significant majority.
As punishment to the people of Tambunan for their defiance, the then state government deprived the people of badly needed funds for development and the people had to endure years of hardship because of their stand. However, these treatments only solidified the people’s resolve and support for Datuk Pairin. The struggle of the people of Tambunan and that of Datuk Pairin inspired a new movement of Malaysians in Sabah to push for political change and challenge the abuse of political power, stifling of democratic rights and disrespect of human dignity committed by the BERJAYA government. Datuk Pairin and the Tambunan people became the poster boy of this new movement. Soon, other like minded and dissatisfied leaders from other parts of the state, rallied around Datuk Pairin. They would become the initial core leaders of a fledgling party with a new vision.
In March 1985, Datuk Pairin formed Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) or United Sabah Party. Despite overwhelming adversities, he managed to get the party registered and recognised officially as a political party in the eleventh hour. This enabled him to lead the party against the incumbent state government in the next State General Election.
Win they did and with clear majority. Datuk Pairin was sworn in as the sixth Chief Minister of the state of Sabah. He held the post of Sabah Chief Minister from April 1985 to March 1994, during which he spearheaded his party's triumphant outings in four successive State elections (1985, 1986, 1990 and 1994).
Datuk Pairin is also the Huguan Siou or paramount leader of the Kadazandusun community and he is also the President of the Kadazan-Dusun Cultural Association (KDCA), the community's principal cultural association.
Political writings on Datuk Pairin have described him variously as "fearless, principled, sincere, humble and resilient". These traits have formed the distinguishing attributes of his inspiring and extremely popular leadership.
Datuk Pairin is a Catholic and married to Datin Genevieve Lee, a former teacher. They have two sons, Alexander and Daniel, who are both trained lawyers.
