Analyst says Sabah’s crowded opposition field not a plus for BN

KOTA KINABALU: The ongoing spat among Sabah’s opposition parties may not work out fully to Barisan Nasional’s advantage, contrary to popular belief, said an academician here.

However, the clash between Parti Warisan Sabah and the four-party Gabungan Sabah and a crowded opposition field would likely result in multi-cornered contests in virtually all constituencies, he said.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah Humanities, Arts and Heritage Faculty senior lecturer Dr Lee Kuok Tiung said the Sabah opposition for now appeared to comprise disparate groups which were unlikely to be able to team up to take on BN in straight fights.

The opposition ranks are shaping up to be Warisan, Gabungan’s components Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), Parti Harapan Rakyat, STAR, Parti Perpaduan Rakyat Sabah and the smaller parties — Parti Cinta Sabah, Parti Anak Sabah and Parti Kebangsaan Sabah.

Lee said while multi-cornered contests would split opposition support to BN’s advantage, this would only work in some seats.

“There are seats where voters tend to choose along party lines and there are also areas where the support is for the personalities contesting.”

He gave as example Jeffrey Kitingan (Bingkor state seat), Wilfred Bumburing (Tamparuli state seat) and Warisan president Shafie Apdal (Semporna parliamentary seat).

Lee said areas that voted according to party lines included Likas, where Junz Wong won on a DAP ticket, and Moyog, where Terence Siambun won on a PKR ticket.

Now that both had ditched their respective parties for Warisan, Lee said defending their respective seats in the coming polls would be “extremely difficult”.

“In Likas, for example, voters went for the DAP brand. Switching parties, although still in the opposition, is perceived as a betrayal,” Lee said.

He said fractures in the opposition front were not only between the parties but within some as well.

There appeared to be two camps in Sabah DAP with one aligned to state party chief Steven Wong, the Sandakan MP, while the other is with his predecessor, Jimmy Wong, the Kota Kinabalu MP.

He said with the approach of the 14th general election (GE14), some of the opposition groups would try to hammer out deals to avoid splitting their support.

Lee said he anticipated Warisan to eventually team up with Pakatan Harapan’s PKR and DAP.

But word on the ground is that one of the two camps in DAP is agreeable to working with Warisan while the other intends to work with a local party, Parti Anak Sabah. -FMT