PH headed for another setback in Sabah?

 

Sabah chief minister Hajiji Nor has said he will discuss the Sabah Reform Agenda with parties in his government.

KOTA KINABALU: After the heavy beating it suffered in Melaka months after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the federal government, will Pakatan Harapan face another setback in Sabah, where it has proposed the Sabah Reform Agenda (SRA)?

Very likely, says political analyst Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

Oh told FMT he agreed with Warisan vice-president Junz Wong’s assertion that PH’s defeat in Melaka was largely due to the coalition’s MoU with the federal government.

He said PH could suffer a similar fate in Sabah if the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) administration accepted its proposal for the SRA.

Oh Ei Sun.

“The federal MoU confuses many PH supporters over whether it is still a proper opposition or now an unofficial part of the government,” he said. “As such, many would prefer to abstain from voting until the situation is clearer. The state MoU is likely to land PH in a similar predicament in Sabah.”

Wong recently said PH’s abysmal performance in the Melaka polls was proof that the people were unhappy with the opposition’s decision to sign the agreement with the government.

Sabah PH presented the seven-point SRA to chief minister Hajiji Noor on Nov 15. Among other things, it proposed a number of political and administrative reforms, the pursuit of state rights under the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 (MA63) and a post-Covid-19 economic recovery plan.

The coalition said it welcomed Hajiji’s assurance that he would discuss the deal with the parties in the government to obtain a consensus.

Observers have said the essence of the SRA, despite its fine tuning to suit the state’s needs and issues, was the same as the federal MOU, which is to find common ground to work together and thus create political stability.

But PH has denied that the SRA is a version of the agreement signed at federal level.

Warisan has declined to be a party to the cooperation, questioning the need for a pact at state level when there is already one at the federal level.

Lee Kuok Tiung.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) lecturer Lee Kuok Tiung agreed that such a deal would erode the support for PH.

“It will only be one of the factors for a loss of support, but definitely not the main one,” he said. “There are many other factors as well, such as the choice of candidates and maybe the manifesto, which will play a more important role.”

Romzi Ationg, also of UMS, said one should not be too certain that the SRA would be detrimental to PH.

Romzi Ationg.

“Sabah politics tends to be different from peninsula politics,” he said. “I am not convinced that there will be sentiments similar to those in Melaka although anything is possible in politics.”

He told FMT he also did not believe the MoU had caused PH to lose in Melaka. Instead, he said, the defeat was likely caused by internal problems and the lack of a clear direction.

“PH’s failure in upholding its promises and the growing interest among its leaders to question Malay supremacy during PH’s tenure as the government also significantly contributed to such a result.”- FMT