SAPP-Pakatan seat talks on hold as polls loom, says Bumburing

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 — Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) seat talks with the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) have come to a temporary halt, PR ally Datuk Seri Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing has said, in yet another indicator that it may be a fractured opposition front that will face Barisan Nasional (BN) in Election 2013.

On the outset, leaders from both sides have put on nonchalant fronts, each claiming that their “doors are always open” but the drama behind closed doors appears to be showing otherwise.

Bumburing said SAPP and PR are finding it tough to accommodate each other on the seat allocation.

According SAPP information chief Chong Pitt Fah, his party chief Datuk Yong Teck Lee had told a Sunday press conference in Sabah that seat talks with PR have yet to come to a deadlock.

But when queried on the progress of the negotiation recently, ex-BN strongman Bumburing claimed the opposite.

“In as far as SAPP [is] concerned, Pakatan [is having] difficulty in accommodating the number of seats that they demand and it seems that seat nego (negotiation) with them [has] come to a halt as of now,” Bumburing told The Malaysian Insider in an email interview over the weekend.

The Malaysian Insider also understands that PR is unwilling to cede seats to the Sabah-based SAPP despite its claim to have greater appeal with locals in the east Malaysian state, insisting that theirs is a more Chinese-dominated party.

“The strength of SAPP used to be limited in the town areas. Now the Chinese voters are putting their support to DAP to fight for their rights,” Bumburing said.

This was repeated during a recent interview with PKR deputy president Azmin Ali at his office in PKR’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

“SAPP is mainly a Chinese-based party... so who would represent the KDMs (Kadazandusun and Murut)? Of course they claim they are a multiracial party.... but then again, their base is Chinese,” he said.

Bumburing, once the deputy president of Sabah-based BN party United Pasokmomogun Kadazandurun Murut Organisation (UPKO), now helms the Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) movement.

Along with Pertubuhan Pakatan Perubahan Sabah (PPPS) chief Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin, also formerly a BN MP from Sabah Umno, both PR-friendly movements are now helping the political pact form an opposition front strong enough to boot BN from its Sabah fortress.

Azmin said that SAPP’s first demand to contest in a whopping 40 of the state’s 60 seats was too unreasonable as it would leave the remaining opposition parties just 20 seats to share among themselves.

“Initially, they wanted 40 seats, and that is not acceptable to PKR, because we have PAS, DAP, APS, PPPS... we must all work together.

“Then they said they were willing to reduce their numbers but the final figure, the most they could concede was just about five seats... again, that is still very big,” he said.

The Gombak MP, however, would not reveal the number of seats PR, APS and PPPS would be willing to share with SAPP, saying the numbers should be settled amicably behind closed doors.

He acknowledged SAPP’s argument that the contest for Sabah should be among locals but said the “Sabah for Sabahans” war cry was “no longer applicable after over 50 years of independence”.

“Even though PKR, DAP and PAS are national parties, we also include our friends in Sabah and Sarawak.

“We believe in this autonomy for Sabah and Sarawak but that does not mean that PR cannot contest in Sabah — every single one of our candidates are Sabahans,” he pointed out.

But observers believe that SAPP is an important component in PR’s struggle for Sabah as without the party on their side, the opposition’s contest could result in three- or even four-cornered fights, which would split the opposition vote and give BN its much needed edge.

Another spanner in the works for PR’s struggle in the state is the newly-formed opposition party called STAR (State Reform Party) — a movement led by maverick politician Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, which has its roots in neighbouring Sarawak.

Azmin said SAPP initially wanted to contest a whopping 40 of the state’s 60 seats, leaving the remaining opposition parties just 20 seats to share among themselves.

Neither SAPP nor PR has so far made inroads in negotiations with STAR, and Jeffrey, the younger brother of political veteran and BN’s Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, is also dead set on spreading his men out across a majority or all 60 state seats in Sabah for the coming polls contest.

Shortly after Bumburing and Lajim’s sudden exit from BN last July, Jeffrey told The Malaysian Insider he was not shaken by the two strongmen’s entry into the already crowded opposition battle for Sabah.

He pointed out that for the “greater good” of Sabah, all parties competing on the opposition front must make good on their promise to work together for the purpose of toppling BN and not to assert more power over one another.

“As far as STAR is concerned, we are going to focus in the areas where we feel we are strong. And we will tell them (opposition parties) that we are not going to compromise in our core areas,” he had said when contacted.

But there is also talk of a possible partnership between STAR and SAPP should SAPP’s seat talks with PR hit a complete deadlock.

Observers believe this could set PR back, particularly since the pact views the coming polls as its best chance yet to wrest state and federal power from BN.

“If SAPP and STAR stay outside of Pakatan there is some concern from the voters. How we know their strength and we believe that in the GE13, the voters will only have a choice between Pakatan and BN,” Bumburing said, agreeing.

But he added that both parties would likely be on yet another collision course when trying to divide seats among themselves as either side believes they should take the lion’s share.

“If both parties are unwilling to concede majority state seats to Pakatan, then I cannot see how they could concede to each other.

“The respective leaders of SAPP and STAR are well known for being ambitious,” he said, referring to Jeffrey and Yong.

In the meantime, seat talks among PR’s three core parties PKR, PAS and DAP, as well as APS and PPPS, are close to being wrapped up, The Malaysian Insider understands.

It has been agreed that Bumburing’s APS and Lajim’s PPPS will field candidates under PKR’s banner, and help the party tackle voters from the state’s crucial Kadazandusun and Murut, and Malay communities.

“We are discussing on the issue of which party/group is the best/strongest to tackle in a particular seat.

“The situation in Sabah has a different political flavour. While party alienation is important, the question of who is the candidate matters a lot among the voters.

“The rural voters have to be taken seriously because sometimes national issues have not sunk into their understanding,” Bumburing explained in the email interview.

In Election 2008, BN lost its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority largely due to significant losses in the peninsula, where it won just 85 seats while the opposition swept 80 seats.

BN’s saving grace was in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan where the coalition trounced the opposition and made a near-clean sweep, winning 55 parliamentary seats to the opposition’s two.