Musa still best man to lead Sabah

Musa Aman's win in the 2008 general election was not based on majority, fundamentalism or extreme populism.

COMMENT

For Sabah, the 2008 general election proved that political forces are extremely crucial to economic growth. And the man who contributed to the growth of Sabah in this context must surely be Musa Aman.

He started turning the knobs after the state was hit with many problems in the 1990s.

The “Mahathirised” social engineering was based on exclusion of many social groups. And this led to vengeance, vandalisation, poverty and poor law and order situation.

But in Sabah, Musa reversed this by an inclusive system.

However, it needs to be noted that the chief minister’s victory in 2008 was not based on majority, fundamentalism or extreme populism.

The mandate given to him was an acknowledgement that he was rebuilding Sabah, socially and economically.

If he was good for 2008, he is still the best man to take Sabah to the next level.

The Musa-led government has many challenges and has to meet higher expectations, hence the next five years would be very crucial for many sectors including agriculture and power.

The government would have to rely heavily on agriculture given that the state has fertile land.

Not an easy task

Sabah has the capacity to become Malaysia’s rice bowl and the country’s top state in all agricultural produce.

Sabah requires an agricultural policy that could break away from the feudal set-up that has been consolidated since the British introduced the Sabah Land Ordinance, which became law on Dec 13, 1930.

It is not an easy task. It would hurt the interests and the social pride of many groups. It would require treading cautiously.

Top priority must be given in tackling the right of ownership on native customary rights (NCR) land and to find the best solutions to protect the interest of the natives.

For Sabah, the coming election may be a pivotal moment in determining the future trajectory of the state’s political economy and indeed progress.

Pitted against each other are two contesting visions of Sabah.

The incumbent government of the Umno-led Barisan Nasional coalition – comprising Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), United Pasok Momogun Kadazan Organisation (Upko), Parti Bersatu Rayat Sabah (PBRS) and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – is campaigning on a platform of good governance which is supported by the arithmetic of rapid economic growth (about 7% cent on average) in the last 10 years of Musa’s government.

On the other side is Pakatan Rakyat led by Anwar Ibrahim and Wilfred Bumburing’s Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) and Lajim Ukin’s Pertubuhan Pakatan Perubahan Sabah (PPPS). This bloc still believes that it can acquire power in Kota Kinabalu by manipulating the state’s race and religious arithmetic in its favour.

The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) and Sabah State Reform Party (STAR) are the third front in this contest – trying to take on the incumbent government on a Borneo agenda-Sabah autonomy platform, rather than on governance plank – but not yet powerful enough to be a credible alternative in government.

Many believe that this “third front” has been planted by BN to split the opposition votes.

Politics of aspirations

Whoever the party or parties, it would be in the larger interest of Sabah and its people if this pivotal 2013 general election puts to rest the notion that power can be captured based on old social divisions and grievances.

It is important for Sabah’s political economy to move on to a politics of aspirations, where people vote for a party or coalition that delivers governance.

This will force all serious political parties (including SAPP and STAR if they want to remain relevant) to contest future elections on a forward-looking governance platform in the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement within the framework of the Federal Constitution, rather than a backward- looking social engineering plank.

This time round, such reasoning undoubtedly favours the Umno-PBS combination, which is the main pillar of BN Sabah.

But a political economy which puts governance at its centre, while still relevant here and now, may not favour the incumbent government in the future.

Selvaraja Somiah is a geologist and freelance writer. He blogs at selvarajasomiah.wordpress.com.