Growth of KDM, Dayak parties ‘a recipe for disunity’

 

Tony Paridi Bagang (left) said the growth of ethnic-based parties in East Malaysia will lead to instability among the communities while Oh Ei Sun says politicians are serving their own political careers.

PETALING JAYA: The mushrooming of political parties catering to the Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) community in Sabah, and the Dayak population in Sarawak, is a recipe for disunity, say political analysts.

Contrary to claims by politicians that they are doing it to defend their ethnic rights, the plethora of parties being formed could actually lead to instability instead of unity as claimed, says political analyst Tony Paridi Bagang, a senior lecturer at Sabah UiTM.

“The KDM and Dayak communities will be more fragmented. Intra-ethnic rivalry will occur and will lead to instability and disunity. In the end, these communities will be at the losing end,” he told FMT.

Sabah assemblyman Peter Anthony, formerly with Warisan, has announced that he will form a new KDM-based party friendly to the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah.

Lee Kuok Tiung of Universiti Malaysia Sabah said it was ironic that Sabahan politicians used the ethnic unity reason. Having more of these parties would do the exact opposite, he said.

“But the truth is that every head of these parties wants to be the leader of the community. Almost all the new parties claim themselves to be saviours who want to unite the KDM, without realising that this will split the community, ” he told FMT.

Politicians saving their careers

Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs attributed the sudden growth of these parties to the desire of politicians to maximise their own career prospects.

“By having your own party and perhaps a few parliamentary or state seats, you are in a position to bargain for more cabinet seats or other privileges for yourself and your followers as conditions for joining a ruling coalition,” he said.

“Federal politicians do not mind the mushrooming of these parties in East Malaysia, as it suits their ultimate divide-and-rule purpose.”

Paridi said there is intra-ethnic rivalry within the native groups:  the KDM community comprises more than 42 ethnic and sub-ethnic groups while the Dayaks comprise the Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu and others.

Lee said politicians form new parties to save their political careers, to become leaders, or to find a new platform after a dispute with their previous parties.

The emergence of new parties would not have a significant impact on the politics of the two states, he said. The Sabah state elections in 2020 and the recent Sarawak polls showed that several candidates from smaller parties lost their deposits.

There are 9 active local parties in Sarawak with three of them native-based. In Sabah, six parties represent native groups despite claiming to be multiracial. - FMT