Friendly Fights In Sabah A Brilliant Tactic Says Analyst

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There are “friendly fights” involving coalition allies in 17 seats at the Sabah state assembly elections.KOTA KINABALU: It is still anybody’s game in the 17 seats where Perikatan Nasional and its allies Barisan Nasional and Parti Bersatu Sabah will cross swords at the Sabah state elections, said a political analyst
Universiti Malaysia Sabah senior lecturer Lee Kuok Tiung said these seats involve multi-cornered fights which could have been staged with the mutual understanding of BN and its allies
“If they were one-on-one fights and suddenly your alliance (member) tried to sabotage you, then that would be a problem. But this time, these are multi-cornered fights. You never know, it could be their strategy,” Lee said
The 17 seats where coalition allies will clash are Bengkoka, Telupid, Lumadan, Matunggong, Tandek, Kadamaian, Kapayan, Karamunting, Melalap, Sook, Bingkor, Moyog, Tulid, Paginatan, Liawan, Tambunan and Tanjung Aru
Most of the constituencies are located in the interior, central and northern Sabah and predominantly Kadazan-Dusun-Murut areas
Lee ruled out misunderstanding and the obsession for power as the cause of the clashes, which many viewed as surprising given that the allies had held talks on seat distribution prior to the nomination of candidates yesterday
He said that not all seats saw overlaps between BN and its allies but only those they had agreed upon
“For me, that is brilliant on the part of the leadership or else you wouldn’t be able to reach any consensus,” said Lee
Another analyst, Tony Paridi Bagang, felt that the 17 “friendly” clashes were expected
Bagang, a senior lecturer with Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Sabah said the clashes occurred because the allies failed to reach consensus on seat allocation
“Early indications surfaced when PBS decided to use its own logo in this election, sending a message on its desire to field candidates in most constituencies
“Furthermore, PBS is already out of BN and is not obliged to accede to the wishes of BN or PN. It can also be taken to mean that PN, BN and their ally were not too successful in their seat distribution negotiations,” said Bagang
Local political writer and analyst Musli Oli said challenges faced by the leadership of the coalition at the state level in managing Sabah politics had resulted in these clashes
Musli also felt that the creation of 13 new seats for this election had contributed to the jostling for seats among the allies and complicated the distribution of seats. - FMT

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