Rafizi: Anwar’s Sabah gamble a political misstep

 

AFTER the 2025 Sabah state election, the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) won only one seat out of the 12 it contested – almost a complete wipeout for Prime Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition.

Anwar’s closes ally in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, DAP suffered a complete wipeout, losing all the seats it contested and held.

Now Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli’s old warnings look spot-on.

Campaigning vigorously across Sabah, Anwar’s personal involvement backfired spectacularly, amplifying perceptions of federal overreach and eroding his reformist credentials.

Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) clinched 29 seats, Warisan 25, leaving PH isolated and underscoring Sabah’s rejection of “Malaya-centric” politics.

Rafizi, who resigned from Cabinet earlier in 2025 amid internal PKR tensions, had long cautioned against such risks.

“You come here, you think you’re great. You say this, you say that. You think we eat from your hands,” he quoted Sabahans’ frustrations, highlighting decades of condescension from Peninsular Malaysia that fuels resentment.

He argued that dragging the PM into state polls compromises the federal government: “If you lose, you have to bear it… But you can’t drag the Prime Minister to help. Because then you compromise the PM.”

In Sabah, Anwar’s rallies drew crowds but sparked backlash, with Rafizi noting, “Sabah people… don’t like it. They have been talked down by the Malaya people all the time.”

This “bloodbath” as Rafizi termed it, now stains Anwar’s leadership.

PH’s humiliation, including DAP’s loss of all contested seats, signals voter fury over unfulfilled promises on autonomy and revenue rights.

Rafizi’s advice – to let locals lead without federal “enlarging the image of us Malay people” looking down – proves Anwar’s lamentable failure to heed Sabah’s pulse, weakening his grip ahead of federal polls and inviting internal PH recriminations. — Focus Malaysia