Sabah the kingmaker in federal politics?
The emergence of the State Reform Party (Star) in Sabah's crowded political scene is being widely seen as a bid by its leader Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan to capture the role of kingmaker in federal politics.
The emergence of the State Reform Party (Star) in Sabah's crowded political scene is being widely seen as a bid by its leader Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan to capture the role of kingmaker in federal politics.
And, speaking at his office in Luyang, Sabah, recently, Jeffrey made no bones about this. A large whiteboard hangs on the wall, listing all the seats which Star will likely contest in the 13th general election.
"This time, we can become the kingmaker of the federal government and this is the bargaining chip for them (Putrajaya) to rectify the situation in Sabah," Jeffrey told
Malaysiakini
.
He explained that if Sabah-based parties chalked up enough parliamentary seats in the 13th general election - expected to be the most competitive ever - they could leverage on any federal government to correct perceived injustices in the state.
Sabahans have much to be upset about, from the cabotage policy which increases their cost of living to being relatively under-developed compared with the Peninsular Malaysia states, despite Sabah being a rich oil-producing state.
"There is also a serious development gap. Take, for example, the parliamentary constituency of Keningau, which can fit in Perlis, Penang, and Malacca. Collectively the three states have 26 parliamentary seats, 85 state assembly seats and three chief ministers,” said the soft-spoken veteran politician.
"If the 85 state assemblypersons get a development allocation of RM500,000 (each), that's more than RM40 million (in total). But Keningau only has two assemblypersons and that's only an allocation of RM1 million."
The concept of Sabah and Sarawak playing the kingmaker's role arose after the 2008 general election when the seats in the peninsula were split almost equally - the BN and Pakatan Rakyat gained 85 and 79 parliamentary seats respectively, while there was one Independent.
In contrast, BN obtained a staggering 55 parliamentary seats while Pakatan received a meagre two across Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territory of Labuan.
Jeffrey, who first popularised the political slogan: 'Ini kali-lah!'” (This time!), said his party intends to contest in seven to 15 of the 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah.
Asked if Star - which is slightly more than a year old - is taking on more than it can handle, Jeffrey replied: "When Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) came to power in 1985, it was only one month old, (so) would you say the same thing?"
PBS, under Jeffrey's older brother Joseph Pairin, was formed on March 5 that year by a faction that broke away from the ruling Parti Berjaya. It was swept into power in the 1985 Sabah election, winning 25 of the 48 seats. PBS rejoined the BN in 2002.
‘PKR, PAS should stay out’
Star will contest between 25 and 37 state seats in the coming election, Jeffrey said.
He has been advocating for Sabah-based parties to contest seats in the state and for Pakatan to focus on those in the peninsular, a position that the opposition coalition has deemed unacceptable.
While conceding that its impasse with Pakatan over seat negotiations means that multi-corner contests are imminent, Jeffrey said this may not necessarily benefit the BN.
Aside from the 20 KadazanDusunMurut (KDM) majority seats, Star will also go for mixed seats with a substantial KDM population. These number around 15, with most of them being Umno-BN strongholds.
Therefore, if PAS or PKR were to join the fray, they will likely split BN's Muslim votes to Star's benefit, Jeffrey believes.
When it was pointed out that in the 2010 Batu Sapi by-election, even Sabah-based SAPP and peninsula-based PKR's combined votes could not overcome those obtained by the BN, Jeffrey said this would not be the case in GE13.
"A by-election is different because it favours the incumbent as the entire national resources can be poured into one constituency but this will not happen in a general election," he said.
In the Batu Sapi by-election, PBS’ Linda Tsen recorded a comprehensive win of 9,773 votes, while PKR’s Ansari Abdullah obtained 3,414 votes and SAPP’s Yong Teck Lee took 2,031 votes.
Jeffrey posited that of the three parties in Pakatan, only the DAP is strong, and that PKR and PAS have never won any seat in Sabah and should therefore stay out.
He also blamed PKR for creating a "photocopy" of itself in the form of Angkatan Perubahan Sabah and Pertubuhan Pakatan Perubahan Sabah, which has complicated seat negotiations and upset PKR's members in Sabah.
Jeffrey is expected to take on his brother Joseph Pairin in the Keningau parliamentary seat but may also consider Pensiangan , while Bingkor will be his choice of a state seat.
‘Consistent message, different vehicle’
Asked if questions will be raised about his credibility as a political leader, given that he had been a member of parties such as PBS, PBRS, Upko and PKR, Jeffrey insisted that his message for Sabah rights has been consistent.
"The question of changing vehicles is a matter of how to carry this struggle. If I find a vehicle to be unreliable, then I have to abandon it and find a suitable vehicle. All this while, I've only been a passenger," he said.
He conceded that he had often clashed with leaders of other parties, and this was why he decided to create his own ‘vehicle’, which he could steer in the right direction.
Asked about his attempt to join Umno, he replied that there had been a suggestion for him to pursue his struggle from within the BN.
"It was a suggestion from - I don't know if I should mention - but my Sabahan Umno friends said the only way for us to go anywhere, since Umno is already here, is for all of us to go into Umno, and I see the point.
"But of course when I applied, they accepted at first. But when they found out it was Jeffrey, they became afraid," he laughed.
Related stories
Multi-ethnic front, votes key to Pakatan hopes in Johor
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.