More To Ph Bn S Sabah Statement Than Meets The Eye

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 Sabahans, like their Sarawak counterparts, are deeply suspicious of the peninsula’s brand of politics, and want to chart their own future.
From Ibrahim M Ahmad
Speculation has been intense among Sabah election watchers in recent days, after Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan issued a joint statement on Friday announcing a collaboration for the state’s upcoming election.
According to an FMT report, the agreement was reached on Thursday between Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the PH chairman, and his BN counterpart and deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The report said the form of cooperation, including seat distribution and possible talks with other parties, would be handled jointly by both the PH and BN leadership in Sabah, subject to one important caveat.
“All final decisions will be made by the top leaderships of PH and BN at the national level,” the report said, quoting the statement.
The statement has led to a frenzy, with comments coming from politicians and analysts, and much chatter among ordinary folk in the state, including on social media.
Primarily, Sabahans, like their Sarawak counterparts, are deeply suspicious of the brand of politics prevalent in the peninsula, especially the type championed by Umno, which is grounded in race and religion.
With Umno loudmouth Dr Akmal Saleh constantly harping on those two subjects, Sabahans fear that a BN-PH led state government will likely bring about an overreach of Islam into their daily life, disrupting the current harmonious co-existence.
Likewise, Umno’s “Ketuanan Melayu” rhetoric is also often greeted in Sabah with disdain, and will never be accepted in the state where the Malays represent only 9% of its 3.4 million population (source: statistics department).
Then there is the stain of corruption that continues to tarnish the Umno-BN brand, especially with former prime minister Najib Razak’s conviction, incarceration and continued prosecution, and the controversial discharge not amounting to acquittal given to Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Add to that the ongoing criminal trial of Umno Sabah’s wannabe “poster boy”, Bung Moktar Radin, who together with his one-time actress wife, Zizie Izette Abdul Samad, is fighting corruption charges for which they have been called to enter their defence.
Bung is a divisive figure in the state and created chaos in January 2023 when he tried to pull the rug from under chief minister Hajiji Noor’s feet by withdrawing support for the GRS-led administration. His antics split the party, with several Umno assemblymen defying party orders to keep the state government afloat.
Like Akmal, it seems Bung cannot be restrained, and frequently jumps the gun to assert his political primacy in the state.
In September last year he was reported as saying that Umno Sabah was set to engage in discussions to fine-tune and bolster its collaboration with PH in preparation for the polls.
That comment was quickly shut down, but Bung repeated his trick again last week only to see Sabah DAP immediately deny that official talks had begun.
Likewise, claims by Sabah BN that the BN-PH alliance had agreed to a 40:33 seat distribution and proposals for Bung to be its poster boy were dismissed by his party boss Zahid as premature.
The BN-PH collaboration announcement has caused a stir in the state, with “Sabah for Sabahans” once again emerging as a rallying cry amid a firmer push for more autonomy.
Peninsula-based politicians would do well to recognise that, despite their quieter and gentler demeanour, Sabahans, like their Sarawakian counterparts, are now keener than ever to chart their own destiny.
In this regard, the Sabah Law Society is leading the way by pushing through litigation to assert the state’s rights under a special grant provided for in the Federal Constitution.
Meanwhile, politicians and lawyers in the state are watching the ongoing battle between Sarawak and the federal government over oil and gas rights intently. Sabah holds 19% of the nation’s proven and provable petroleum reserves.
But Sabahans may also be jumping to conclusions too quickly. There may be more to the PH-BN statement than meets the eye.
BN and PH collectively hold only 20 of the 73 seats in the state assembly, meaning they would, even if they retain them all, be well short of a majority. With sentiment the way it is, Umno Sabah may struggle to hold on to its seats.
In any case, Anwar and Zahid will not be so foolish as to think that BN-PH can win the state all on their own to form the government. They know well enough Sabah’s unique political landscape, which has as many as 14 political parties, the majority of which are local, occupying seats in the state assembly.
BN and PH must know that they would need to forge an alliance with local parties, either prior to the election, or immediately after, to lead or be a part of the next state government. They also know they cannot overlook the two biggest players on the state scene: Gagasan (26 seats) and Warisan (14).
That may be why the BN-PH statement expressly makes reference to the coalitions’ openness to cooperation with other parties.
Foreseeing Bung as a potential stumbling block in those negotiations, Zahid has also ensured that all BN-Umno decisions on the matter will be made at the federal level where he is in charge.
With Anwar, a dealmaker extraordinaire and Zahid there to check Bung, Sabahans have much less to worry about than they think. - FMT
Ibrahim M Ahmad is an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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