Tuesday May 7, 2013

GE13: Sabah only suffers hairline cracks

By MUGUNTAN VANAR
vmugu@thestar.com.my

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah remains a fortress for Umno and Barisan Nasional's fixed deposit although it suffered hairline cracks with the loss of three parliamentary and 12 state seats to the Opposition.

The losses to Pakatan Rakyat came in urban areas and one interior seat of Bingkor went to local-based State Reform Party (STAR).

PBS, Upko, LDP and Sabah MCA were badly bruised in urban and semi-urban Chinese and Kadazandusun majority seats while Sabah Umno lost one state seat.

Wiped out was local-based Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) and all the Independents, many of them losing their deposits.

What surprised political analyst Dr Faisal Hazis was the lacklustre performance of SAPP and STAR against the national opposition parties of PKR and DAP.

“I believe there was a high level of mistrust with STAR and SAPP when DAP and PKR claimed that the local-based parties were financed by Barisan to raise doubts among voters,” said Dr Faisal, a lecturer from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.

He said STAR's strategy of labelling PKR and DAP as “imports” misfired.

Dr Faizal did not completely agree with the view that voting trends in Sabah followed Kadazandusun and Chinese racial lines.

“There was a class dimension to it. The Kadazandusuns in Penampang belong to the urban and semi-urban class who opted to vote for change,” he said, adding that the interior Kadazandusun stuck to Barisan.

<b>Stronghold:</b> Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman addressing a press conference at his official residence in Sri Gaya after taking the oath before Governor Tun Juhar Mahiruddin. —Bernama

Stronghold: Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman addressing a press conference at his official residence in Sri Gaya after taking the oath before Governor Tun Juhar Mahiruddin. —Bernama

Similarly, the Chinese, mainly from urban areas, were influenced by the policy of change promoted by Pakatan.

He said the opposition parties could not penetrate into the interior areas, whose voters form the bulk in Sabah.

“If you don't do your groundwork in the interior for years before an election, you would not be able to win there,” said Dr Faisal, adding that they were less influenced by Facebook and Twitter.

Another observer said voters in Sabah have transcended parochialism which was a major feature of Sabah politics in the past.

“If the numbers truly reflect the people's sentiments, we are seeing political maturity and greater awareness that the old ways of thinking are over.

“Sabahans still want change, that's for sure,” he said, noting that SAPP and STAR could have misread the prevailing mood.

For more election stories, please visit The Star's GE13 site

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Tuesday May 7, 2013

GE13: Sabah only suffers hairline cracks

By MUGUNTAN VANAR vmugu@thestar.com.my

By MUGUNTAN VANAR
vmugu@thestar.com.my