WITH FRIENDS LIKE MAHATHIR & BERSATU – DOES PAKATAN NEED ENEMIES? MANY IN SABAH WANT DR M – THEY JUST DON’T LIKE HIM – PLUS THEY BELIEVE HE HAS DONE ENOUGH HARM TO PAKATAN

Johor DAP committee member Dr Boo Cheng Hau may not be a Sabahan but he could well be speaking for many Sabahans when he recently called on Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to step down.

Why do I say so? Because that seems to be the sentiments of many in Sabah now that Mahathir has insisted that Bersatu set up its chapter in the state and allowing Umno defectors to join the party.

Two close friends from Sabah, one a senior leader of a Pakatan Harapan party, contacted me after reading my stance in Malaysiakini on Bersatu’s foray into Sabah, telling me that Mahathir has done enough damage to the ruling coalition with his many U-turns of late.

“It has reached a stage where it has become intolerable. Mahathir is to be blamed for causing so much uneasiness within Harapan, including among us in Sabah”, one messaged me.

The other said: “If the old man keeps on making important decisions without referring to the Harapan presidential council, antagonising others in the process, he has become a liability to Harapan and should go.”

Strong words indeed! Isn’t this exactly what Boo was driving at?

Then, the majority of Malaysiakini readers who commented on the issues I’ve brought up were also unhappy with Mahathir’s decision and Bersatu’s move.

These are some of their comments:

• Bersatu is the reincarnation of Umno. Umno DNA runs deep. Dishonesty and back-stabbing are nothing new. The second-time PM’s words and actions do not reflect his honesty but have ascertained that he is still the same cunning fox who wants everything to be done his way.
• Bersatu people are much like Umno. They are not honourable!
• Federal government will continue to divide and rule East Malaysia. Nothing new. Same old, same old.
• Bersatu in Sabah and Sarawak will not last. East Malaysians will not support them.
• Asking dishonourable people to honour their words? Bersatu is weak. Push them back to Umno. Let Umno finish them off.

Again, I hope that the Bersatu leadership will take such public feedback in its stride for what they are worth.

I honestly doubt it’s incorrect to claim that many Sabahans have no love for Mahathir, not only among those who had crossed swords with him politically but among the people of Sabah in general.

Many have not forgotten (nor forgiven) Mahathir for the few dark chapters in Sabah’s history in which the prime minister played a major role in.

I can still recall vividly four of those chapters.

Sink or swim with Berjaya in 1985: Mahathir’s famous words that “Barisan Nasional will sink or swim” with Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh and his Berjaya party just before the 1985 state election. When Berjaya was defeated by a 45-day-old party led by Joseph Pairin Kitingan (photo), it was a big BN blow and an embarrassment which Mahathir must have found difficult to swallow.

Impossible to tolerate a Christian chief minister: Poor Pairin and his PBS government never had peace during their nine-year rule in Sabah. He had to face a palace coup just after the 1985 polls and it was only acting premier Musa Hitam who saved the day and prevented a constitutional crisis in the state. Word had it that if Mahathir was not on leave abroad at that crucial moment, things would have turned out differently. Sabahans believe up to this day that Mahathir found it rather uneasy with a Christian chief minister. The elections resulted in riots around Sabah with bombings in Kota Kinabalu and arson in other towns. The rioters were trying to bring down Pairin. Not unexpectedly, the blame on the disturbances was on “hidden hands” in Kuala Lumpur. In 1986, another election was announced and PBS emerged victorious again, this time with a two-thirds majority.

Bringing in Umno and rotating the chief minister’s post: Following PBS’ withdrawal from the BN on the eve of the 1990 general election, Mahathir brought Umno into Sabah. After the 1994 state polls, Pairin and his ally, Mustapha Harun, had won the elections after a fierce contest with BN. But within weeks, it was claimed that Mahathir engineered defections and quickly approved three parties, namely SAPP, PBRS and PDS (now Upko) for PBS defectors which triggered the collapse of the Pairin government. Then, Mahathir started the two-year rotation system of the chief minister’s post, declaring that “the post of the chief minister is too powerful and no one person should hold it for long”.

“Project IC” – Granting citizenship to foreigners: This is possibly the darkest chapter and the most contentious issue. Sabahans have put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the prime minister. Mahathir’s image in Sabah has largely been associated with the so-called “Projek IC”, which some have also mischievously called “Projek M”, a reference to his alleged role in granting citizenship to illegal immigrants in the 1990s. This ugly project effectively changed the demographics of Sabah and ensured a vote bank for Umno for two decades until GE14. However, it must also be put on record that Mahathir had denied his role and he had even testified as one of the key witnesses in the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Illegal Immigrants five years ago.

Sabahans do not forget Mahathir and his “misdeeds” in their beloved Land Below the Wind. And would it be a surprise if the majority of Sabahans were to tell the prime minister today that they do not have very fond memories of him?

Probably, many would have repeated after Boo when he said that “I have respected Mahathir’s resilience as a senior politician but never fancy his ideological values”.

FRANCIS PAUL SIAH heads the Movement for Change, Sarawak (MoCS)

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