KOTA KINABALU: As soon as Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced the dissolution of parliament on Wednesday, a number of Sabah parties scurried for cover away from the prying questions of reporters.
Even Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman appeared to be caught unawares, if his disgruntled demeanor while answering a barrage of questions by the media on when Sabah would dissolution its legislative assembly was an indication.
Musa, nevertheless scrambled to arrest the situation and later called his own press conference to announce the dissolution of the state assembly some five hours later.
On the opposition front, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) was said to have been in the midst of its election preparation camp in Inanam when Najib made the announcement during a live telecast.
Now senior members of SAPP and State Reform Party (STAR) – the two main state opposition parties here – are scrambling for news on the respective list of candidates for the coming election.
The knee-jerk reaction of most is to gain the attention of their respective leaders to enhance their chances of being selected.
This is a normal practice in Sabah politics. Candidacy issues dominated talks at SAPP’s day-long seminar in Inanam.
The houses of top leaders and party offices as well as their other preferred rendezvous points have been a buzz of activities from Wednesday.
The question most heard was who would be the chosen few even as last minute lobbying continued.
Both SAPP and STAR appear not to have decided on their final list of candidates.
But in STAR’s case, it is learned that there are some disgruntlement over potential candidates.
Hidden agendas
Both SAPP president Yong Teck Lee and Jeffrey Kitingan of STAR are scheduled to meet at least twice more to iron out a deal that would avoid both parties’ candidates slugging it out in a likely four-cornered fight with Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat.
But insiders in both parties are skeptical the meetings will result in a positive outcome.
“If Yong and Jeffrey now try to trade seats between them it will surely have other repercussions since they will have to tell their own potential candidates to stand down after they have spent so much time and money just to give way to others,” said a party member.
There are also rumblings within both parties of hidden agendas after both leaders failed to forge an alliance.
BN leaders, meanwhile, are sarcastically congratulating Yong and Jeffrey for splitting the opposition vote.
Foremost among their critiques is Sabah BN secretary Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
The incumbent Kota Belud MP publicly “thanked” Jeffrey for splitting the opposition in Sabah and helping pave the way for BN to retain the state.
Many believe that at least 25 out of 60 state seats would be in the opposition bag if they – STAR, SAPP and Pakatan – would all agree to one-on-one contests with the BN.
This is unlikely to happen given that Pakatan has already said that it will not engage with SAPP and STAR.
Instead SAPP and STAR now face intense lobbying within their parties to select and put up candidates in various constituencies.
While a more decisive Yong may have it easier making his list, the same cannot be said of Jeffrey.
Already STAR is bogged down in its campaign preparations. Even where the party has a strong following, selecting an unpopular candidate will diminish its chances considerably.
Dangerous times
STAR has painted itself into a corner by refusing to forge even loose ties with Pakatan.
SAPP can claim it did open its door for discussion with the national coalition front but found that it was not workable as they would only get a minor role before eventually being obliterated.
SAPP said Pakatan was only willing to concede eight out of the 60 states seats to the party making it impossible for Yong, who like Jeffrey, hopes to restore state autonomy.
“How to have state autonomy with only eight seats?” was Yong’s response when asked why SAPP cannot team up with the peninsular-based opposition front.
The former chief minister who was once in the BN coalition with his party is fearful that Pakatan component DAP will replace it as the party of choice in Chinese majority constituencies.
For now the order of the day among local parties is to get their act together if they hope to prevent hegemony by the all-powerful Malaya-based parties.
This is not limited to the opposition but also local BN component parties like PBS, UPKO, LDP and PBRS.
Having spread their the wings to Sabah, it is only a matter of time before Umno, MCA, Gerakan and MIC swallow up the minnows.
Calvin Kabaron
WHO SPLIT THE VOTE? MALAYAN PARTIES!
ReplyDeleteIt is not too late for STAR and SAPP to unite with a common strategy to win.
The common sense solution is to divide the seats equally and the remaining seat could be a contested one between the parties-OR the 2 parties join together and nominate a candidate for that seat.
The alternative is for an independent who is not pro-Malayan to stand.
If the 2 parties can unite to win the elections, they can share power by rotating their CMs.
Other candidates who have been stood down must make this sacrifice for the sake of saving Sabah.
The 2 parties must sacrifice their wanting the elections so they can allow the people to make a clear choice- elect to Free Sabah or remain a Malayan colony!
THey better or else there is no chance of the opposition to win.
ReplyDeleteA multi-cornered contest is inevitable following the failure of the peninsula and local-based opposition parties to reach a compromise on a single candidate to take on the BN.
ReplyDelete