No chance for Pejuang in Sabah, say analysts

 

Mukhriz Mahathir with Sabah Pejuang chief Haji Nicholas Sylvester Muhammad and other party leaders in Kota Kinabalu last week. (Pejuang Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Pejuang will have no fighting chance in Sabah if it contests there at the next general election, say two political analysts.

Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said race-based parties have no appeal in Sabah as most Sabahans have family members from different ethnic backgrounds and religious beliefs.

“But if such parties are in a position to ‘disburse resources’, then that overwhelmingly supersedes that aversion against race-based parties,” he told FMT.

He added that many Sabahans still blamed Mahathir for Project IC, a term used to describe the alleged systematic granting of citizenship to migrants by giving them identification cards in the 1990s.

“They blame Mahathir for instigating Project IC, which they think brought in these sometimes-documented migrants. I, on the other hand, think this practice predated Project IC for many years.”

On Tuesday, Pejuang president Mukhriz Mahathir said the party intended to contest in Sabah in GE15, though it was yet to decide on the number of seats it would contest.

While the party’s state chapter will be officially launched on May 22, Sabah BN leader Bung Moktar Radin played down Pejuang’s electoral chances in the state.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah analyst Lee Kuok Tiung said he did not see any room for Pejuang in Sabah, describing the state’s political arena as “already overcrowded” with various parties such as Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) led by former Warisan vice-president Peter Anthony.

“I don’t see where there is room for Pejuang in Sabah. We saw a total of 447 candidates vying for 73 seats in the 2020 Sabah state election, with a majority of them losing their deposits,” he told FMT.

Lee said the existence of the Project IC was debatable, but no one could deny the sudden increase in Sabah’s population in the 1990s.

He added that it would be tough for Pejuang to get rid of the perception of being tied to Mahathir, even if the former prime minister did not contest in GE15 or stepped away from the party. - FMT