Sabah Local opposition parties pact will upset BN - Jeffrey

KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan is confident of STAR-SAPP-Usno pact’s chances in upsetting Barisan Nasional (BN) in the coming general election.

The State Reform Party (STAR) president said his confidence was based on the encouraging response received from the people on the ground who wanted to see drastic changes in Sabah’s role and position in the Federation of Malaysia.

He said this fit well with the state opposition’s core agenda of restoring Sabah’s economic and political autonomy.

“We have not seen negative response, (in fact) we have seen only enthusiastic response everywhere we went. If this is a reflection of the voting behaviour, we can expect to be given the mandate to take over the government,” he said.

Met at the STAR’s office in Damai here yesterday, he said the party’s election machinery was all fully prepared to tap the changing sentiment among Sabahans.

He said seat distribution between the three state-based opposition partners was also more or less sorted out, adding that there would be certain areas where they have agreed to have “friendly contests”.

He stressed STAR would stick to its initial plan of focusing on mostly Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) areas in the west and interior parts of the State, while SAPP (Sabah Progressive Party) would go for urban areas.

The other partner, Usno (United Sabah National Organization), will be entrusted to tackle the mostly Muslim-majority constituencies in the east coast, he added.

“Right now our committee is going around to check and further strengthen the readiness of our machinery in every area. Of course, we have been campaigning all this while. The focus now is to get more support, by ensuring that the people understand our agendas.

“We may not agree 100 per cent on everything but we are trying to negotiate these minor differences. The important thing (for us) now is to get the people to understand and support our objectives.

“Our strategy is that one to one (contest) means Malaya Agenda versus Borneo Agenda, meaning voting for Pakatan Rakyat or BN is voting for Malaya Agenda and voting for us is voting for Borneo Agenda. This is what we are trying to do, together with SAPP,” he said.

He admitted that there were still a few seats still being discussed among the three partners but STAR at the moment is set to field candidates in at least 41 seats.

He also confirmed his intention to contest the Bingkor state seat currently held by BN through United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organization’s (UPKO) Datuk Justin Guka, as well as the parliamentary seat of Keningau held by his brother Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

As for the party’s list of candidates, he said it was 90 per cent completed and the full list would be announced next week.

“For the remaining 10 per cent, we have a list of potential candidates being considered, we are still looking at who are the best options,” he said, adding the list would include four to five female candidates.

To a question, Jeffrey said the failed attempt to reach a strategic collaboration with Pakatan Rakyat would not affect the state-based parties.

“In fact it will complement the Borneo Agenda vs Malaya Agenda approach,” he said.

“It will be difficult to ensure a one to one fight because there will be independent candidates and so on. In any way, Pakatan intends to take it all so it is better to know it now than later,” he said.