When Joseph Pairin Kitingan led his Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) back into the Barisan Nasional fold early this year, it was a severe blow for the opposition in Sabah.

For many years, PBS was the only opposition party in Sabah which was considered a threat to the BN. The others, including national opposition groupings like DAP and Keadilan, were considered non-entities. At least, in the minds of many Sabahans.

In 1990, PBS "betrayed" the BN on the eve of the general election that year by pulling out of the coalition. It joined Gagasan Rakyat, a loose coalition led by (the now defunct) Semangat 46 with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at its helm.

That was history. That was a chapter in the chequered and rather difficult life of the PBS which members of the party, Pairin in particular, would like to erase from their memory.

Then came the "famous" apology to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad by Pairin as he submitted the application on behalf of his party to rejoin the BN.

Last night, Mahathir's wisdom in re-admitting PBS and Pairin's sincerity in making amends were glaring for all to see.

The BN's runaway victory in the Gaya by-election was widely acknowledged to be the PBS factor. The Kadazandusun voters in Gaya gave their full backing to the BN. This was evident with the votes which came from polling districts in Inanam, one of the two state seats in the Gaya parliamentary constituency and a PBS stronghold.

Standing ovation

A journalist present at the tally centre in Dewan MAKSAK in Kota Kinabalu last night said that "the hero has to be Pairin".

"When he walked into the hall, almost everyone stood up and gave him a standing ovation even when [Deputy Prime Minister] Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was already there. This was followed by thunderous applause. And Pairin, of course, was beaming from shoulder to shoulder," the newsman told malaysiakini .

A visibly pleased Pairin told reporters later that he was very happy with the results as it showed that the Kadazandusun community supported BN.

Before the by-election, it is reliably learnt that Pairin and the PBS were under severe pressure to deliver the Kadazandusun votes to the BN. Last night, they did.

Thanking Pairin and the PBS soon after the results were announced, BN chairman Mahathir said the overwhelming support for BN showed that PBS supporters had backed the coalition.

"Even in the past, not all supported PBS because they opposed the government. Till now, there are some who continue to do so," he added.

Huge majority

The BN retained the Gaya parliamentary seat by a huge majority of 11,923 votes, with the DAP and Keadilan trailing in at a distant second and third respectively.

BN's Liew Teck Chan garnered 15,639 votes to defeat DAP's Dr Hiew King Cheu and Keadilan's Christina Liew who secured 3,716 votes and 2,613 votes respectively. There were 132 spoilt votes.

However, voter turnout was a dismal 44.38 percent of the 49,427 registered voters, the lowest ever recorded for a by-election. A total of 22,100 votes were cast.

Political analysts believed that most of the votes received by DAP and Keadilan were protest votes from the Chinese against SAPP. Umno's Muslim protest votes also went to Keadilan.

If the Gaya results is any indication, they said that Keadilan may find difficulty in getting Chinese support in Sabah in future.