MALAYSIAN ELECTION – WHICH PARTY TO CHOOSE?

By : STEPHEN YAMAN

AS A component of Pakatan Rakyat, DAP is a very prominent party in the opposition coalition in Malaysia. SAPP is a breakaway component party of Sabah BN with seats that it has won with the BN tickets in the last general election.

SAPP is trying to establish itself in the coming PRU 13 and has never tasted the general election activities on its own without the backing of BN in a major election arena. Star is a Sarawak based party that has never won a single seat in any general election in the past 16 years. It is a rejected party from Sarawak with nothing to show from any past records.

Senior insiders from the BN and PR are absolutely right when they said that SAPP and Star are irrelevant and insignificant in the coming general election as far taking up any state or national government is concerned. In a two party system, the people of Malaysia would have to choose between two prominent parties or political groupings to run the state or national government of the country as a whole.

How could a party such as SAPP or Star be in any position to run a state as the Sabahans had witnessed in the advent of USNO, BERJAYA and PBS in the past administration in Sabah? PBS is now absorbed into the BN fold as we have seen today.

As of the end of 2011, Mr. Jeffrey Kitingan went all the way to Sarawak to team up with Star to try and champion Sabah cause with the setting up of Star Sabah Chapter after jumping several parties over many years and some failed talks with the Sarawak National Party (SNAP) that had failed miserably in the 2011 Sarawak state election and has not even won any seat.

STAR in Sarawak has no record at all to talk about. Is this a party that the Sabahans want to see championing Sabah cause? In any cause, past records and performance should be a gauge for the people to use as a barometer when choosing a serious contender for a state or national government.

The people of Sabah or East Malaysia should not be misled by parties that are irrelevant and insignificant to run a proper government because a state government alone will not provide significant power to rule the country or state effectively.

Do the Sabahans believe that STAR will be able to fill in the gap or vacuum should BN fails? The Sarawakians for the past 16 years did not believe Star in Sarawak could do it. Does anybody in Sabah believe that Star would suddenly turn around Sabah over night like a ‘typhoon’ and become so prominent?

In the recent so called ‘debate’ between Dr. Edwin Bosi and Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, all Dr. Kitingan could say is that ‘STAR is the best for Sabah’ as if it is already a foregone conclusion for the people of Sabah without him stating some very strong and valid reasons why the people should unanimously give him the mandate to represent them in the DUN or parliament.

Dr. Kitingan has in his records some not so clear dealings including what he recently called ‘A Mahathir’s Joke’ and he is known to be a ‘parties’ jumper’. Can the people depend on a politician with such instability to be their ‘wakil rakyat’ or people’s representative?

As for SAPP, I was visiting some friends in Kudat at a Kampong Tq. Kapoor a couple of months ago. At coffee shop dinner, we were discussing the Sabah political situation when a local village senior citizen suddenly interrupted our conversation.

He said that Mr. Yong was at their village about a week before us on his walk about visit. Upon meeting the people and seeing the dilapidated situation of the village and rubbish all over the place with not proper sanitation and so on.

He said that “If he will be elected to represent the people in the coming general election and be the next Chief Minister, he would blah, blah, blah…..” This village senior citizen interrupted him and requested to ask a question. Mr. Yong obliged.

So, the senior citizen asked “Datuk, you aware the Minister and Chief Minister of Sabah at one time for BN what have you done? How sure are we that if you get elected again and become Chief Minister we are going to get so many changes this time around?” According to him, Mr. Yong could not give a decent reply and left the village in haste.

So, with these two Sabah parties SAPP and Star, and the past records of USNO, BERJAYA and PBS (as oppositions), how can we confidently vouch for a not so relevant and big enough party to represent us in the national political arena?

We must remember that the local, state or regional issues add up to the bigger picture at the national level. Now, do we need a two party system like many other countries all over the world such as the Conservatives and Labor parties in England, and the Republicans and Democratic parties in the USA, etc? If one party could not perform, it could step down thus enabling the other party to take over as we now have the BN and PR in Malaysia.

With the BN absolute rule of the past Malaysia era since independence in 1957 for Malaya and 1963 for Sabah and Sarawak, is it time for “change” as we have witnessed all over the world? All of us have never seen any other government in Malaysia in our life. BN claims to be the best compared to which party because we have never tried any other party. So, how do we know? - Sabahkini