The decades-long marginalisation of the Sabah Chinese community in the politics of the nation and the state does not augur well for the long-term presence of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) in the east Malaysian state.

This is the stark public warning from Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) elder Alex Lo Su Hen in an early indication that matters might be coming to a head sooner rather than later.

Lo, also the president of the Sabah Goldsmiths' Association, feels compelled to come forward to take this stand.

This follows the unprecedented alleged ‘sacking ' of outspoken LDP Deputy President Chin Su Phin from the deputy chairmanship of the Sabah Housing and Town Planning Board (LPPB) late last week.

Lesser parties feel slighted

Lo's the first senior LDP leader to break the silence on a snowballing issue and with good reasons too. The LDP leadership had been too stunned by the dramatic turn of events to frame a suitable public response.

"Although it is not a must that Chin must be kept on in the LPPB, it's undeniable that his departure is the continuation of a trend that has gone on for far too long in the state," fumed Lo. "This is the result of the deliberate sidelining of Chinese leaders in Sabah."

The fact that an urban community like the Chinese is no longer represented in an important government body that deals with urban development in Sabah, "is the least of the problems the Chinese in Sabah face", assured Lo.

For starters, he lamented the fact that financial support from the federal government for Chinese education in Sabah is minimal.

Meanwhile, the state government's limited resources does not allow it to pitch in and take up the slack but merely confine itself to "tokenism and paying lip service".

Hence, Chinese schools in the state including private ones can only fall back on the community itself, societies and businessmen with a social conscience, continued Lo. "This makes us wonder what the community actually gets from the BN for its loyal support all these years."

"Sabah as a whole contributed a lot to help the BN in the 2008 general election and in the aftermath when it seemed that the ruling coalition stumbled to its worst ever result," said Lo in a sober assessment of the political tsunami of two years ago which swept over Peninsular Malaysia and brought BN to the brink of defeat.

Complete absence

He reckons that the much bigger grouse of the community is its complete absence from the federal cabinet despite Sabah propping up the BN as the federal government in Putra Jaya.

Lo sees no reasons why the Chinese in Sabah should continue to put up with "an unjust political equation" especially when their compatriots in neighbouring Sarawak have at least one full federal cabinet minister to hold watch for them and bring up their issues and concerns.

najib visit to kuala kubu 030410 10 This was with specific reference to Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui.

"The Chinese voters in Sabah are therefore longing for their own representation in the federal cabinet," stressed Lo. "Sabah Chinese representation in the federal cabinet must be resolved as soon as possible by Putra Jaya."

The LDP elder urged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak ( left ) to reshuffle the federal cabinet to bring in Sabah Chinese representation as soon as possible.

Lo charged that the decline in Sabah Chinese representation began when the rotation of the chief minister's post was scrapped. This accelerated, according to him, when former LDP President Chong Kah Kiat, resigned from the state cabinet over the aborted Goddess of the Sea statue controversy in Kudat.

Chong was also the last chief minister under the rotation system before stepping down to accept an ordinary state cabinet post.

Chong, ironically, was also the last Chinese full federal cabinet minister more than a decade ago, Lo recalled. "The only other Sabahan Chinese to hold a full federal cabinet post was Loh Su Yin in the 1960s when he was minister without portfolio,"

Lo claimed in a parting note that LDP - ostensibly multiracial - has become "the biggest Chinese-based political party in Sabah BN" with the withdrawal of Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) in 2008 from the ruling coalition citing loss of confidence in the federal leadership. It had expected to fill the vacuum left in the Sabah BN by the departure of Sapp.

Lo's claim is unlikely to go down well with Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) which has instead benefitted from the exit of Sapp. PBS feels that it had the right to fill up the slack since Sapp was a breakaway from the party.

Besides, Chinese PBS leaders see their party as the rightful political vehicle to represent the community in the state BN in alliance with other Sabahans.

In the view of Chinese PBS leaders, the LDP is one of the many mosquito parties in the state BN.

Merger with PBS is the only route to salvation for them, according to Chinese PBS leaders.

"But they (LDP) do have a point on the lack of Sabah Chinese representation in the federal cabinet," said one Chinese PBS Supreme Council member who requested anonymity. He attributes this to Sabah overall being under-represented in the federal cabinet "despite helping keep BN alive in Putra Jaya".