There is very strong indication by UMNO Sabah that Sabah State Election will be held sometime after 16th September 2003. The Sabah State Assembly is expected to be dissolved next week on 28th August.

Tan Sri Dato Rashid Abdul Rahman stated in the last months of Datuk Chong Kah Kiat term as Chief Minister it was suggested by the Election Commission that the Sabah State Assembly Election was to be held together with the General Election so as to save cost. He further stated that leadership of the BN component parties in Sabah was not in agreement as they needed the full and undivided support of BN parties from Peninsular. For the next months it was assumed that that was to be the case until the last visit by the Prime Minister to Sabah where Datuk Musa Aman proposed to the Prime Minister that this was the prime time for BN Sabah to call for the Sabah state election. Dr Mahathir agreed to the proposal and stated that he would bring the matter to Abdullah Badawi.

Why the move by Sabah BN?

In military term this is the classic case of a ‘Quick Attack’. Not to be mistaken as to one wanting to have the election quickly but rather to go for the attack as one notices there is a chink in the armour (weaknesses in the enemy) of which one intends to take full advantage of. For BN Sabah this course of action over the more traditional ‘Deliberate Attack’ is of course the preferred choice if not the obvious as the window for the element of surprise is coming to a close as the final dates for the election in any case shall not be later than April 2004. Also, there is the traditional fear that the State Government of Sabah undergoes an enforced change by the Sabah Electorates after a cycle of two terms as what behest USNO, Berjaya, and PBS! The fear among UMNO Sabah in particular is very real if it is to be pitted against a united opposition of parties in Sabah in particular Sabah based parties. A sizeable if not the majority of silent electorates in Sabah now are discontented in the manner the BN in particular UMNO is ruling the state as they seem to procure them all rather than more equitable sharing as preached. Further UMNO Sabah is not only being taunted as “Parti orang Malaya” (Malayan people’s party) but worse still “Parti orang Melayu Malaya” (Malayan Malays party) which interestingly enough after forty years is still not synonymous what more acceptable to Sabahans.

To add to this rather difficult issue members of the BN component parties are jostling for seat allocation. The PBS when got wind that UMNO would be fielding candidates in more than thirty seats was heard to pass comments in the like of “Elok UMNO telan semua” (better for UMNO to swallow them all). BN and in particular UMNO cannot afford this kind of bickering. How is UMNO going to appease the many Kadazandusun based parties in its alliance. In order to nip discontentment from being further fueled it is in UMNO’s interest to call for this snap election.

KeADILan, PAS and DAP it is learnt are formulating some kind of electoral pact. Indeed, these are all Peninsular based parties too. In this case the story does not end there.

Little heard of Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Rakyat Sabah Bersatu aka BERSATU has submitted for registration as a political party since two years ago. It is reliably learnt that former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli and a former disgruntled Chinese MP from Sarawak for not being given further timber concession from the state are backing this party to a tune of one hundred million Ringgit (cheap if one considers possible return of 7,000 acres of land for a new airport and perhaps acquire the old airport, which is practically in the city, at the same time). Further, many are of the opinion that Sabah is barren of timber land. This is only partially true. Sabah still has million of acres that are gazetted as forest reserve. Independent of this Yayasan Sabah has also in its fold millions of acres of timber land. Well, yes Sabah Government has a borrowing of about Five Billion Ringgit from the Government of Malaysia – so be it, its Chief Minister Musa Aman is reported to be personally worth Five Hundred Million Ringgit! Alas, who better knows timber operation than Musa if only one cares to trace back his portfolios since UMNO ruled Sabah and of course not to be forgotten his trusted Minister of Agricultue and Fisheries and UMNO Information Chief Datuk Rahim Ismail who was a senior staff of Sabah Forestery Department before he joined USNO and then UMNO. Was Musa not the first and all supreme Director of Yayasan Sabah since UMNO took over Sabah! BERSATU at first glance seems to be dressed by a group ‘have ran’ in the like of Datuk Mohd Noor Hj Mansor as its adviser. Worthwhile noting he is a Muslim, Bajau, lawyer and was the Minister of Finance during the UMNO inspired Berjaya Government of Harris Salleh and from Kota Belud ‘capital’ of the west coast Bajaus. In Sabah politics the Bajaus’ needs to be appeased, they are not Malays and they have every reason to be proud of it. As its President BERSATU chose Datuk Maidom Pansai a Kadazandusun also from Kota Belud. May be it is not Tambunan the hinterland of Datuk Sri Pairin Kitingan but close enough to be the focus for the battle of the Kadazandusun hinterland. Representing the Sabah Malays is its Secretary-General Mohd Rahfee Hj Mohd Rauf. Interestingly enough for the purpose of registration of this party their contact person in KDN is one Dato Hamzah. In spite of all this after two years the party has as yet to be registered. This only serves to confirm that BN Sabah in particular UMNO Sabah does not wish to be pitted against a lethal and potent combined force of local based party in this case BERSATU and the likes of KeADILan, DAP, PAS and other Sabah based parties in the opposition.

Negotiations are being held between BERSATU and SETIA as a fall back position. The question is can UMNO Sabah stop this. They have NO choice as the leaders of UMNO Sabah has been hiding for too long too many things. It has now become apparent that UMNO Sabah is now in the process of taking over the control of SETIA as it was made known to BERSATU by SETIA that SETIA was not happy that BERSATU made public its negotiations.

The question now is would the Barisan Alternatif if they are really worth their salt as they like all to believe also call for a dissolution of the respective State Assemblies in which they are overwhelmingly in the majority namely Kelantan and Trengganu.

Next move and probably final move by Dr Mahathir. Could be brilliant, could be the ticket for the unraveling of his legacy. After all, Sir, in all humility I was once your little advisor. Your move Sir, please…….

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Terbitan : 1 September 2003

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