Sabah Elections A Referendum Against The Federal Government

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WITH Sabah’s state election just days away, voters are turning the ballot box into a referendum on six decades of broken promises from Kuala Lumpur, says the South China Morning Post.
The numbers fuel the fury. National oil giant Petronas earned RM205 bil from Sabah fields between 2018 and 2024, yet over 47 years (1976-2023) the state received only RM23 bil in royalties.
A bombshell High Court ruling last month declared Sabah is constitutionally entitled to 40 per cent of all federal revenue collected in the state, not just the 5 per cent oil royalty.
Putrajaya has vowed to appeal, a move many there see as the latest betrayal of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement. Sabah, home to 3.4 mil people, records Malaysia’s highest poverty rate at 17.7 per cent despite its resource wealth.

“Enough begging, What is Sabah’s must stay in Sabah,” SCMP quotes Warisan president Shafie Apdal as saying.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government relies on East Malaysia’s seats for its parliamentary two-thirds majority. Sabah sends 25 MPs to the Dewan Rakyat.
Analysts say a strong anti-Kuala Lumpur swing in the state elections could strip Anwar of 10-15 seats, pushing him below the crucial 148-seat supermajority line needed for constitutional changes.
This could only happen if some Sabah-based parties abandons the Madani government. Already, firebrand leader Jeffrey Kitingan has pulled his STAR party out of the state ruling coalition, accusing the federal government of decades of broken promises.
The portal says voters are also fed up with political dynasties. Relatives of former chief minister Musa Aman, acquitted of corruption but still widely distrusted, are contesting seats, including one under Anwar’s own PKR banner.
Anwar, campaigning in Sabah week, promised to solve the state’s chronic water crisis by next year and urged voters not to follow your anger.
But voters are saying this time they are voting for Sabah, not for Kuala Lumpur. And if they (Kuala Lumpur) still don’t listen after Saturday, they will feel it in Parliament.
Polling day is next Saturday. For Anwar’s Madani government, halfway through its term, the result in Sabah may be the clearest test yet of whether unity can survive when one side feels it has been robbed for generations. —  Focus Malaysia

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