The Kadazandusun community's contribution to the resounding victory of the Barisan Nasional in the just-concluded Gaya by-election proves that Parti Bersatu Sabah president Joseph Pairin Kitingan is still held in high esteem by the community.

According to his former secretary Alexander Anthony, the community does not like to see Pairin lose in any event.

"They still feel a strong connection with him. This is the Kadazandusuns' attitude, they are very loyal people and they want to prove that Pairin is still strong," he said.

"In any gathering, conferences or seminars, Pairin's name is still good even though his former political allies or opponents condemn him," the Panampang Kadazandusun leader told malaysiakini in Kota Kinabalu recently.

As the Huguan Siou (Paramount Chief) of the Kadazandusuns, Pairin has always been revered as "the" leader of the community. This could explain why he had never lost in all the elections he took part in.

Base in Tambunan

He is still the state assembly representative for Tambunan, the Kadazandusun heartland whose voters had never let their favourite son down.

Even when he had to contest Tambunan as an independent candidate in 1984 after he was sacked from then Chief Minister Harris Salleh's cabinet, they backed Pairin all the way and humiliated his BN opponent. Such is Pairin's personal appeal and the community's loyalty to their paramount chief.

The former chief minister also proved his detractors wrong and that he had made the right decision by bringing PBS back into the BN early this year. He had said then that he did it in the interests of the party and the Kadazandusuns. Saturday's results in Gaya, at least, did not indicate he was wrong.

On the eve of the 1990 general election, PBS left the BN and joined the Gagasan Rakyat, a loose opposition coalition led by (the now defunct) Parti Semangat 46 and helmed by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

For more than a decade, PBS was considered as the only opposition force in Sabah able to render a threat to BN. Others like DAP, or more recently Keadilan, lacked the influence or support.

It is widely acknowledged that the PBS factor played a key role in securing a BN victory in Saturday's by-election.

BN's huge win

BN retained the Gaya parliamentary seat with a huge majority of 11,923 votes. Its candidate, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) vice-president Liew Teck Chan garnered 15,639 votes.

DAP's Dr Hiew King Cheu came in second with 3,716 votes while Keadilan's Christina Liew received 2,613 votes.

Only 44.38 percent of the 49,427 registered voters turned up to cast a total of 22,100 votes.

The by-election was called following the disqualification of its former representative, Yong Teck Lee, last month.