news analysis

In Sabah, where it has been often proven that politics is indeed the art of the possible, this time around the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) is clearly not taking things for granted.

Top state BN leaders have to come up with public statements to end widespread talk and rumours that the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president and former chief minister Yong Teck Lee (the BN candidate for the July 21 Likas by-election) does not have the full support of BN component parties.

Insiders will readily admit that Yong and the present Chief Minister Chong Kah Kiat, leader of the mosquito Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), are not exactly the best of pals even in politics.

But the Sabah BN backbone Umno may find it difficult to get everyone within its ranks to support Yong. Sabah Umno chairperson and former chief minister Osu Sukam even insisted at the last minute that it would be better to field an Umno candidate in a predominantly Malay/Muslim constituency.

(Malays/Muslims make up about 15,000 of the registered voters in the electorate numbering 26,000).

Although Sabah newspapers today reported a show of unity among state BN leaders, there is no doubt that the absence of a Malay candidate is quite indicative. Earlier, it was thought that Datin Saidatul Tun Said Keruak, the Sabah Keadilan liaison chief and sister of Umno deputy chairperson and state minister Salleh Keruak, would stand and that her candidacy would split the Malay/Muslim votes.

But this is not to be, as Keadilan has now fielded a well-known Kota Kinabalu lawyer Christina Liew, formerly with the opposition Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) led by former chief minister and respected Kadazandusun leader Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

There will now be four candidates - all Chinese - contesting in a largely predominantly Malay/Muslim constituency. This has changed the equation, at least for PBS candidate Dr Chong Eng Leong. PBS and Keadilan were reported to have made last-minute attempts to avoid a confrontation. But Keadilan insisted, so both parties came and fielded their candidates in Kota Kinabalu.

A fifth would-be candidate, a Malay, did not file his nomination papers after his seconder did not show up.

Rice distribution

A seasoned journalist in Kota Kinabalu told malaysiakini that he tried to get some sample opinion from 17 Chinese voters in Likas. (Likas has about 7,000 Chinese voters.) "Only two indicated they would vote for Yong Teck Lee," he said. "I spoke to two Malay/Muslim voters and they indicated they would vote for the BN candidate."

According to reports, several top Umno guns from Kuala Lumpur tried to talk to former Chief Minister Harris Salleh, formerly leader of Parti Bersekutu Sabah, into lending his support for the BN candidate. Harris reportedly told them he would support BN "as long as the candidate is not Yong Teck Lee".

Obviously, there is personal animosity between the two men, which in part explains why Harris, a wealthy businessman in Sabah, has gone to court to try to stop Yong from standing again in Likas.

Yong is still confident and anticipating objections following a series of court battles. He said it would give him a lot of pride if other parties would object to his nomination. Indeed, several objections were raised but the returning officer overruled all of them.

So the battle royale has begun with Yong Teck Lee at the heart of it all, and his three other opponents, PBS' Dr Chong Eng Leong, Keadilan's Christina Liew and independent candidate Joshua Kong, trying to prevent him a victory.

BN has already fired the first salvo and gone to the ground, distributing some rice to the 'illegal immigrants' staying in Pulau Gaya across the bay in the capital, according to newspaper reports in Kota Kinabalu today. A PBS top official said he has not heard of reports of starvation in the villages and can only conclude that the rice distribution is part of political campaigning.