COMMENT | What nasty game will boorish Bung play?
COMMENT | It was a hollow victory. There is no cause for Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) to celebrate its rise to power because it won by a very flimsy majority in the Sabah state election. GRS can fall anytime if some "toads" were to cross over to the Warisan Plus camp.
On the surface, it appears that the people want a change of government, but the verdict was not unanimous. Warisan also came out as the single biggest party, sending a clear message that the voters on the other side of the fence had rejected the peninsular style of politics.
But a victory is a victory and GRS has been given the mandate to govern the state. However, the disturbing part of the story is that Umno captured the most number of seats under the GRS umbrella, despite the fact that the tarnished party was toppled in the 2018 general election.
In the eyes of the public, Umno is seen as a party which has lost...
COMMENT | It was a hollow victory. There is no cause for Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) to celebrate its rise to power because it won by a very flimsy majority in the Sabah state election. GRS can fall anytime if some "toads" were to cross over to the Warisan Plus camp.
On the surface, it appears that the people want a change of government, but the verdict was not unanimous. Warisan also came out as the single biggest party, sending a clear message that the voters on the other side of the fence had rejected the peninsular style of politics.
But a victory is a victory and GRS has been given the mandate to govern the state. However, the disturbing part of the story is that Umno captured the most number of seats under the GRS umbrella, despite the fact that the tarnished party was toppled in the 2018 general election.
In the eyes of the public, Umno is seen as a party which has lost its moral bearing and can no longer represent the will of the people.
If the chief minister's post had gone to Umno, with its stained record, Sabah will be looking forward to a very bleak future. The politics of Umno, centred largely around race and religion, will cause further divisiveness among the people there.
After much wrangling, the top post instead went to Sabah Bersatu chief Hajiji Noor, who is more comfortable with being a simple government officer than being thrust into the limelight.
Nevertheless, Umno still has a hand in the Sabah pie in the form of an uncouth politician named Bung Moktar Radin, who is one of the three deputy chief ministers appointed to help Hajiji chart a new course.
For sure, Bung, the Sabah Umno chief, will be the livewire in the State Legislative Assembly when it convenes. He will display the same old crude antics and spark running battles with his opponents, using foul gestures and offensive words.
It would not be too far-fetched to see this Kinabatangan native son browbeat Hajiji to advance his personal agenda or promote the Umno narrative.
In politics, anything is possible. Given the fluid situation, Bung might just throw a spanner in the works by taking orders from Umno supremo Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to take Umno out of GRS.
Zahid is quite sore with the cavalier attitude of Bersatu ever since the upstart took federal power under the Perikatan Nasional banner. He just cannot accept the unalterable fact that Umno is already a footnote in history.
Yet, there is Sabah, long considered an Umno goldmine. It still harbours thoughts of taking over the state, one way or other, and Bung is the instrument to achieve this goal. Bung himself may have some dirty tricks up his sleeves to make Hajiji go away.
But now, Umno can only sulk in the corner and lie in wait for an opportunity to elbow its way into the hot seat. After all, GRS is standing on thin ice. Already, there is rumbling in Umno about quitting both the GRS alliance and the PN coalition.
For the moment, the talk is all about fulfilling the Aku Janji (pledge) manifesto, the main thrust of which is to bring more development to an impoverished state ironically so rich in natural resources.
But once the political football season resumes in earnest, Sabah might witness a spike in foul plays, with Bung invariably the villain of the piece, and other players, schooled in the art of frog hopping, changing their jerseys yet again.
PHLIP RODRIGUES is a retired journalist.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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