Dr M a tough sell in Sabah, says Warisan No 2

INTERVIEW | As the general election draws nearer, it would appear the main campaign message for Sabah BN leaders is to stoke fear among Sabahans on the prospect of Dr Mahathir Mohamad returning to power.

For many Sabahans, Mahathir was the reason why Umno became the first Peninsular Malaysia-based BN party to take root in the state in 1996. Umno has lorded over Sabah and marginalised indigenous parties since.

Many Sabahans also equate Mahathir with the so-called “Project IC,” which saw thousands of foreigners in Sabah being given citizenship, thus dramatically and permanently altering the state’s demography.

Although the Royal Commission of Inquiry had blamedcorrupt civil servants for “Project IC,” the fledgling Parti Warisan Sabah – which is seeking a pact with the Mahathir-led Pakatan Harapan – said the former premier’s “legacy issues” had left the opposition on the back foot.

The antidote to this, said Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking, was to remind Sabahans that the “legacy issues” does not rest on Mahathir’s shoulder alone.

“We need to correct something that was from the past, from the first prime minister right up to Najib’s father to Najib today,” the Penampang MP told Malaysiakini in a recent interview.

“It’s easy to say that Najib is acknowledging there’s a breach of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement and he wants to return these breaches.

“You can’t say he’s offering all these now, and therefore he is a good guy. He ignored it all those years as prime minister.”

Cheerleaders turned critics

Leiking said it was strange that Mahathir’s biggest critics in Sabah were BN politicians who had benefitted immensely from the former premier and served under his government.

“There are some BN leaders who said they can never forgive Mahathir, but they were candidates in 1999 when he was prime minister.

“I’m not sure when they forgive and when they cannot forgive, or they forgave because it was convenient to forgive, I don’t know.

“They say the opposition is always contradicting itself, but they are even worse. You were Mahathir’s candidates. You urged the people of Sabah to vote for him as prime minister and now suddenly you say he was never forgiven. So you lied?”

Leiking said it was important for Sabahans to note that Mahathir, despite all his wrongdoings, had apologised for “almost everything” now that he is an opposition figure.

He believed that it was likely to be very difficult for Mahathir to admit his mistakes after being in power for so long.

“When I look at some political leaders attacking Mahathir, they may have their valid reasons, but they defended him before when he was in government.

“Now that he is not in government, he is probably their worst enemy. But they were all beholden to him once,” he said.

Few regrets

The irony of this, Leiking believes, is that the same Sabah BN leaders are now claiming that Mahathir had neglected Sabah and Sarawak when he was in power.

Now that Mahathir was willing to make amends and help Sabah proper, Sabahans ought to give him a chance as BN is not committed to doing that, he added.

“(But) I noticed that Mahathir, probably in his soul, he probably regrets that he did not do much for Sabah.

“At this age where he is going to make something different in West Malaysia, in Sabah, we also have to stand, or at least be on the same wavelength, with them.”

Leiking said Warisan would much prefer a prime ministerial candidate from Sabah or Sarawak, but the reality was that this decision lay in the hands of whoever wins the most seats in Peninsular Malaysia.

“In Sabah we have 25 parliamentary seats, the stakes are not for us to decide. There are 165 seats in West Malaysia, they made a decision on who will be their proposed prime minister.

“We made it very clear, we are not going to be with BN, we don’t want Najib as prime minister. Obviously we will side with the same political movement that wants to remove BN and to defeat the current prime minister.

“We know Pakatan is contesting 165 seats. But I never discount that a minute after polling, anything can happen.

“Who knows? Should Sabahans, Sarawakians and Labuanites create a concrete Borneo block, and put a stake in the federation, that (a PM from Borneo) can happen.” -Mkini