ANALYSIS Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his RM2.6 billion and 1MDB scandals have become a black spot for the BN in peninsular Malaysia.

These scandals have made waves from the south in Johor, home of his former deputy Muhyiddin Yassin, all the way to the north in Kedah, where his archrival's son Mukhriz Mahathir was removed as menteri besar.

But over in the east, across the sea in the land of the hornbills, will firing shots at the self-proclaimed Bugis admiral sink his Sarawak captain's ship?

The opposition is hoping that it will, and is banking on the scandals and some of Najib's policies to turn the tide against Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem's popularity.

State DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen recently said the scandal surrounding the RM2.6 billion in Najib’s treasure chest has unwittingly made the prime minister the opposition's number one 'campaigner' .

In the peninsula, the official line to toe when faced with such allegations is to uphold Najib's innocence as the prime minister has repeatedly denied misusing public funds for personal gain.

Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali has also cleared Najib of any wrongdoing in the scandals.

But instead of focusing on defending Najib, Sarawak BN is trying hard to distance itself from all the scuttlebutt.

Asked how Sarawak BN was dealing with such scandals, a leader from the leading Parti Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak (PBB) brushed off such broadsides as “KL” issues.

“KL-generated issues, if contentious, are for KL to solve, and you can’t blame Sarawak BN for that,” PBB publicity chief Peter Minos ( photo ) told Malaysiakini .

Adenan himself has said that he doesn't exactly know what's going on with 1MDB, but is sure that it won't affect the sitting state government's performance in the coming state election.

It might seem an odd campaign strategy, but some observers agree that Najib's scandals aren't actually as big an issue in Sarawak as some might think.

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) analyst Jeniri Amir said issues such as 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion donation will only matter to urbanites, particularly the youth and Chinese voters, who make up only one-third of the Sarawak electorate.

'Critical and politically-aware voters know'

“The issue is abstract and difficult to understand for voters in the rural areas, who are more influenced by the politics of basic needs,” Jeniri said.

Universiti Malaya’s (UM) Awang Azman Awang Pawi concurred that the opposition's use of Najib's scandals will have limited effects and concentrated to the urban areas only.

However, Awang Azman believes it is affecting Sarawak BN more than the coalition in the state is letting on.

“This issue worries Adenan, eventhough he says 1MDB has nothing to do with Sarawak.

“The critical and politically-aware voters, they know Sarawak BN and Putrajaya BN are one and the same,” Awang Azman said.

The UM professor claims Adenan had delayed the call for state elections several times in the hope that the scandals would be dealt with, as they give a negative perception to integrity in the country's administration.

This, he said, was despite the fact that the issues actually won't affect Sarawak BN's chances of sailing to victory due to the scandals having an effect on only 35 percent of the voters, at the most.

Next: GST taxing Sarawak BN ahead of polls?