By Simon Peter
Sabah elections, whether state or parliamentary, have always been exciting for every politically minded Sabahans.
Even non-Sabahan Malaysians are also interested. They want to catch up with what’s happening there. For example, which parties are ganging up to form an election pact or will Parti Warisan Sabah gang up with Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP)?
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Hajiji Noor, caretaker Sabah Chief Minister
Non-Sabahan Malaysians, including Sarawakians, are also interested to know if caretaker Chief Minister Hajiji Noor and his Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) team will retain power or will Shafie Apdal, Parti Warisan president, get more state seats to form the next government?
Many hard-core supporters of Star are also hoping for their president Jeffery Kitingan to be the next chief minister.
The court case on the 40 per cent of the total revenue collected in Sabah be returned to the state has suddenly become an important weapon for the local parties to win support in the election.
Jeffery has for years appealed to the federal government to honour what has been agreed to at the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
This is one of the conditions for Sabah to agree to form the federation of Malaysia, along with Malaya, Sarawak and Singapore.
Despite being enshrined in the Federal Constitution, the condition has not been honoured.
GRS, under Hajiji, has told Sabahans to vote for continuity. Hajiji has also insisted that there is nothing in forming a coalition government with PKR and DAP, and an election pact with Umno.
Shafie, Jeffery and Yong Teck Lee, SAPP president, have been calling on the Sabahan voters to support the local parties, saying that it is time that Sabah be ruled once again by local parties.
After the collapse of the PBS government in 1994, Sabah has been ruled by a mixture of local and Malayan-based parties, with Umno playing the main role.
Since then Umno-led coalition had ruled Sabah until 2018.
On May 9, 2018 state election, BN-Umno and its partners won with a simple majority. But then six of BN’s newly elected assemblymen, in the wee hours, switched sides to Parti Warisan.
Thus, Parti Warisan and its coalition partners, PKR and DAP, with the support of UPKO, managed to form a pact of 39 seats in order to form a coalition government.
Jeffery Kitinga, Star president
On May 12, Shafie was sworn-in the chief minister, replacing Musa Aman.
However, Shafie dissolved the Sabah State Assembly on July 29, 2020 after Parti Warian-led government lost power, again when many state assemblymen from Parti Warisan crossed over and gave their support to Musa.
On September 29, 2020 state election, Parti Warisan, PKR, DAP and UPKO lost power to Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition of nine parties.
In early 1994, the PBS government collapsed after several of its state assembly left the party. Some of the present federal and state leaders involved in engineering the downfall of the PBS government are still active in politics or holding important posts in the federal and Sabah governments.
Many of those who left PBS are now leaders of their own parties.
After the downfall of the PBS government, an Umno-led Sabah government was formed. Those who had left PBS also joined the Umno-led government.
That is why I always say Sabah politics is very fluid. The only thing predictable in Sabah politics is unpredictable.
We cannot say for sure what will happen next immediately after the Nov 29 state election because anything can happen when it is the lest unexpected.
I once told a fellow journalist from Sarawak that if you want to know more about political tricks, money politics and back-stabbings, then you’ve got to look at Sabah for examples.
Seeing what has been happening in the past, we cannot say for sure that the winning coalition will form the next Sabah government.
While we cannot expect individual state assemblyman to change sides because of the anti-party hopping law, there is nothing to prevent a party from doing so.
The law does not cover political parties.
Switching sides should be ruled out after the results of the Nov 29 Sabah state election have been all been declared. It is certain that a series of negotiations will take place among the parties.
Some of the interesting points being repeatedly raised by the local parties, especially Star, SAPP and Parti Warisan leaders, are:
“Look at Sarawak. It is ruled by GPS. No Malayan parties. Why can’t we in Sabah do the same?
“Sarawak is far ahead of us (in term of development).
“They have good roads (Pan Borneo Highway). They have their own airline.
“Most important of all Sarawak is very stable (politically) under Abang Jo.
“Do you think federal government dare to disturb Abang Jo?”
One thing is certain. Money politics will play an important role in deciding which coalition will form the next Sabah government.
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