Tough choice for Sabahans to make

Myles Togoh

The constant bickering over trivial matters by the opposition has left politically aware Sabahans with a dilemma over who and which party to choose in the 13th general election.

As voters in Sabah ponder their options ahead of the looming 13th general election, it is no secret that they are caught between a rock and a hard place – join the opposition to dethrone the ruling coalition in Malaysia or support the local parties in the hope of getting more out for Sabah.

Amid the murky politics of the vast, resource-rich but paradoxically poverty-ridden state where money is the main political arbitrator, many Sabahans are looking for change.

Fed up with what they see as Sabah’s wealth subsidising Peninsular Malaysians, they are not overly keen on supporting the ruling Barisan Nasional. Neither are they comfortable with the fact that the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition is made up of peninsula-based parties and as such have little or no understanding or sensitivity of Sabah’s real problems.

Voters are conscious that the most pressing issue in Sabah is the alarming rate of poverty and inequality.

The state is still the poorest in Malaysia. Government statistics claim the 58% of poverty in the population in 1976 was reduced to 16% in 2002.

However, it is perceived and believed that the poverty level is much higher than these official figures.

The World Bank’s Malaysia Economic Monitor 2010 report estimated that 40% of the population in Sabah were poor and some claim that the figure should read 60% of the population.

The top two contenders claiming “local” status requesting Sabahans’ sympathy and support are the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) led by former chief minister Yong Teck Lee and the State Reform Party (STAR) led by maverick local politician Jeffrey Kitingan. Both say the answer to this is to keep Sabah’s wealth in-house.

But nothing is as it has been in the Bornean Malaysian state where hundreds of thousands of “new Malaysians” have gained electoral rights and diluted the power of the by and large Christian native population.

Umno is the clear beneficiary of a controversial citizenship-for-votes strategy which was allegedly put in place in the early 1990s to dispose the native-led government of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) in 1994, and is currently under investigation by a royal commission.

BN’s covert tactic

With that illegal but astute move, the four state parties – PBS, Upko, LDP and PBRS – play second fiddle to Umno and indeed in the future to larger BN components like MCA and Gerakan as well.

Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad once even said that the BN does not need the support of Sabah and Sarawak to form the federal government. He had to eat his words after the 2008 general election when the BN only managed to cling to power with the help, ironically, of Sabah voters who today feel they are being ripped off.

The coming election is now seen as a window of opportunity. The ball is with the opposition, certainly when Sabah voters looking for change are concerned.

So far the opposition in the state – made up of SAPP, STAR and Pakatan Rakyat coalition of PKR, DAP and PAS – has refused to play ball, akin to a failure to see the bigger picture as some observers find.

All the parties in play are making pompous sounds that they have the voters’ support and are the only ones capable of safeguarding Sabah’s rights.

In Sabah, DAP has aggressively pushed its view that those not with it in the Pakatan coalition are against it, which has put the party in direct confrontation with both SAPP and STAR, which are not comfortable cementing bonds with what they see as “Malayan” parties.

This may, however, be their only option to remain relevant in the country’s volatile political landscape.

Trying to keep all doors open, the STAR under Jeffrey – and its Borneo Agenda that will reform Malaysia’s unequal power structures – has indicated that it is neither for nor against either the BN or Pakatan.

Up to earlier this year it was tilting in favour of the opposition coalition, but as the year came to an end, Jeffrey said STAR would also work with the BN if it was given another mandate at the polls.

This has been taken by some observers as an admission that the party can be a poisoned chalice for the opposition at the polls given that the wealthy ruling coalition can buy out the party and its leaders as it demonstrated in the past.

While Jeffrey has pressed his call for autonomy for the Borneo states when he boldly brought up the issue of secession when proposing the formation of a Malaysia Borneo nation, he is not the only one pressing for regional autonomy for East Malaysian states.

Local and national Pakatan leaders have also jumped on the train of regional autonomy as a bait to capture Sabah and Sarawak. The opposition coalition has pledged to honour the 1963 agreement in which Sabah and Sarawak helped to form Malaysia.

Bickering over ‘trivial matters’

Such promise is largely a response to the strong undercurrent that exists in both states of their second-class status within the federation; pledges that sound attractive but are a far cry from being easily achievable.

“It’s like the story about people squabbling over who’s going to clean the windows in a house that is not even built,” said a retired civil servant-turned-businessman who has joined the opposition and is disheartened by its constant bickering over what he calls “trivial matters” in the context of what it is trying to achieve – dethrone the mighty BN rule for the first time in the country’s history.

The pensioner, who requested anonymity, said this week’s open quarrel between DAP and SAPP highlighted the predicament of voters in the state eager for change.

He was referring to a statement by a second echelon DAP official here who said his party would not be guided by Anwar’s on-going talks with SAPP.

With Anwar, who is also Pakatan component PKR chief and the opposition’s choice for prime minister, the DAP’s stance may be reflective of what is in store should Pakatan march all the way to Putrajaya.

As both Yong and Jeffrey keep saying, the political structure and governance systems of Malaysia and the strongman rule must change to prevent the rampant corruption at all levels in the state and country from persisting.

And they believe they are the ones who can lead the way by keeping the opposition coalition at arm’s length.

Sabahans tending towards either SAPP or STAR are aware of the many twists and turns both leaders have made in the past and are now musing if they are supporting a lost cause.