Batu Sapi: This is a bellwether battle, says Anwar
(The Star) – Parti Keadilan Rakyat is insisting that Batu Sapi has evolved into a battle ground between opposition Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional and is not a mere by-election for another seat.
PKR defacto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who arrived here Saturday to beef up support for the party’s candidate Ansari Abdullah, said the outcome of the by-election would further strengthen Pakatan’s position in the next general election.
“A win will signal to the taukeh (the big boss) of Barisan that we are ready for a fight to the end,” he said at a meet-the-people session with Ansari at a Sibuga kindergarten hall here Friday night.
He said it was important for Pakatan to maintain the momentum from its victory in Sibu by-election to the Batu Sapi and Galas polls.
Earlier, Ansari who is taking on Barisan’s Datin Linda Tsen Thau Lin of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and Datuk Yong Teck Lee of the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) said the by-election was actually a “straight fight.”
“This is a fight between Pakatan and Barisan. SAPP doesn’t figure in this. It is just too small,” he told the crowd in the half filled hall.
Ansari, who fell into sea twice on the campaign trail in the past three days when rickety wooden bridges collapsed, said incidents were further proof of the neglect that Batu Sapi folk had been experiencing under Barisan.
Ansari also insisted that both Yong and Tsen turn out for a public debate with him at Sanbay Hotel on Sunday. Both SAPP and Barisan have refused debate with PKR.
Yong, meanwhile, at a press conference, blamed top Sabah Barisan leaders for the Saham Amanah Sabah fiasco, which Barisan blamed on him.
He said state Barisan government strongly objected to a white paper because they knew that they were the ones who influenced SAS to buy shares in Barisan-linked listed companies.
At a Barisan campaign in Sungai Gelam, Parti Bersatu Sabah information chief Datuk Johnny Mositun alleged Yong was a man who had no qualms about betraying his friends once he got what he wanted.
“The only thing consistent about Yong is his inconsistency towards the Barisan and individuals who have helped him to advance his political career, he said, adding that PBS president Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan had given Yong a start in politics by making him a senior PBS leaders in the 1990s.
Sabah Barisan secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahalan also asked the voters to evaluate Yong’s political credibility claiming that Yong was the one who had urged Pairin to pull PBS out of Barisan in 1990 but he (Yong) himself went back to the Barisan fold in 1994.
