Whither STAR on political chessboard?

The Kadazandusun ought to realize by now that racial politics is not the right pathway toward a prosperous Sabah. This has been proven by UMNO, PBS, PBRS, LDP, MCA, and UPKO, which are vaguely oblivious of our 30 years of persistent doldrums.

It was only recently and as recent as one month that STAR was form and according to one Borneo Post columnist, STAR party has had overwhelming response with, according to his words, “surprising speed at which STAR gained momentum and the how the unregistered USNO is rousing support among the Muslim Bumiputera had raised new confidence for the UBA to forge forward, even without anymore infusion of new parties into UBA.”
With all due respect, regretfully to say the least, this BP columnist is wrong with his cynical treatise. In a wild unfettered composition this columnist attempted to gain political mileage for his buddies at STAR by priming a coating to portray a larger than life political acceptance for his STAR studded party. Such display of partisan rhetoric only implied a bias contention and an effort to gain acceptance and support from the racially and religiously charge uninformed section of the public.

As much as we all deplore UMNO for its cruel disrespect and cruel treatment toward KDM and Sabahans in general, we also realized that what got us into this messed in the first place is because of racial bigotry plus religious bias. To fight such injustice we must be able to address the root cause and find a great way to bring political justice and economic prosperity to our country.

There are numerous ways to achieve a goal, yet only one method bear’s merit. It is only when the method is good for the people, good for the country, and good for all races will it genuinely holds merit.

But the method that STAR protagonists are suggesting are methods from the old school, which effectively bring us back to square one where we must succumb once again to race base politics. As much as we all would like to form an alliance to ensure maximum impact against UMNO and BN we cannot simply with emotional handicap fight for the sake of fighting. Knowing the evil of race based politics it is prudent not to simply fall for such narrow concept less you wish to recycle the same future as that of the past.

There is, understandably, a level of frustration shared among STAR protagonist, but to position a party based on racial boundaries is the wrong approach and one which will lend credence for larger political entities such as UMNO to manipulate due to its narrow ideology. This assertion has been proven in history as in the case of PBS and UPKO. There is no reason why STAR cannot fall into the same category.

SAPP on the other hand is based on a solid principle and not based on personalities or race as what the Borneo Post columnist prefers to maliciously imply. That principle is rooted on merit based on what is good for the people, good for the country, and good for all races.

Multiracialism in SAPP is not just an idiom, but rather it is a principle that is practiced by the party machinery. The proof is self-evident based on its works and accomplishments. To know how to determine the truth just heed the advice from God as written in the Bible, which says, “..for by their fruits shall ye know the truth!” SAPP is about upholding a good principle for the good of the people and Sabah.

This is a principle, which is based on multiracialism, equality, and justice for all race and religions. This principle is what is going to make Sabah great once again. This is what is going to make us reach the sky in economic prosperity. And this is the principle that will guarantee a sustainable political and economic foundation for Sabah.

With this principle as our backbone, we can guarantee a good and strong government with solid democratic foundation. With this principle the KDM will never again be left behind. Only when we have equality can we all concentrate on education and economic well-being. We can thus compete in a global world based on our merit and not because of race, religion, or wealth.

According to that BP columnist assertion, he prefers if we all cozy up and divide our spoils based on racial demarcation such as “you Chinese take on Chinese areas, you KDM take on KDM areas, you Muslims take on Muslim areas.” Isn’t that going backward to the time of Tun Mustapha? It is time we discard such narrow perspective, which will just recycle our deprivation through UMNO or PKR for that matter.

To ensure Sabah become economically strong, we must follow a new pathway that is intelligent and one which will benefit all the people of Sabah. It is not by chance that we have strong KDM leaders like Datuk Eric Majimbun, Japiril Suhaimin, Peter Marajin, Edward Dagul, and others in SAPP. These KDM leaders are men of integrity and care deeply for the KDM community. These are the KDM leaders who will forge a new future for the KDM community. Datuk Eric Majimbun had consistently spoken for and defended KDM issues at every opportunity he gets in parliament. Among all the KDM leaders in Sabah Datuk Eric was the most vocal and steadfastly defended the KDM interest. Even when all others had quiet down their pleas for an RCI due to perhaps exhaustion, Datuk Eric had continuously forged forward to bring up the RCI issues to the forefront of the news. Such KDM leader had effectively eclipsed all PBS KDM leaders as far as fighting for the interest of the KDM. Here is an example of a strong KDM leader and he is a deputy president of SAPP.

Like other communities, KDM are attracted to SAPP because of its principle and what it stands for and adhered to. Most KDM people are familiar with the reality of Sabah politics where corruptions are rampant because of race based politics. We must discard this narrow concept of race base politics that bring us nowhere but down.

SAPP also have great and professional leaders such as Amde Sidik, Datuk Matnoor and Dullie Marie. These are proven leaders if one would just take the time to read their background. Leaders such as these are of the future. These are the kinds of leaders we need for Sabah. Datuk Matnoor especially is a proven and tested leader and during his time as Finance Minister of Sabah, Sabah experienced the best economic growth ever in its history. We need leaders like this to make our country great again.

Sarcastically, the columnist tries to paint SAPP as a new party, when in fact his party STAR is in fact freshly minted in Sabah within just a matter of months; while SAPP was formed on January 21, 1994 and have grown to become a solid political party with the best agenda for the growth and prosperity of Sabah.

SAPP is more than willing to participate in any discussion of cooperation between all Borneo Alliance political parties as obviously our goal is to defeat UMNO, but it would be against SAPP political principle if the other parties insist on making decisions based on race or religion.

SAPP holds true to its principle when it comes to the governance of Sabah. It is not about race or the assumption of political position. Unlike the others, SAPP stands by the people. There is no point to be in government if the people are not solidly behind SAPP.

As a forward looking party with the sole interest of taking people out of poverty and making Sabah the most prosperous state in Malaysia SAPP wants a government of the people, by the people and for the people. SAPP is a party for all races in Sabah. No matter what political gimmicks they try to label SAPP as a race based Party, SAPP will hold true to its principle of multiracialism to the very end. SAPP interest is for the interest of all Sabahans regardless of race and religion.

By Wilfred Gaban, Born in Goshen, Kota Marudu, Wilfred is a businessman based in Kota Kinabalu. He has returned from the USA where he worked for 30 years after graduating with a BA in Political Science and MS in Business Management from the University of North Texas.