‘DAP failed to deliver on Sarawak 416 promise’
DAP has reached its peaked in Sarawak and now must steamroll Sabah to stay relevant, says SAPP.
Chances of a unified opposition in Sabah are rapidly receding following unrelenting attacks by the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) over a faux pas last weekend by DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang.
Lim had told SAPP, during a Kaamatan dinner thanksgiving celebration here last Friday, it needed to join the Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition to have any hope of toppling the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
His innocuous comment during his speech sparked a vociferous backlash from SAPP president Yong Teck Lee and several of party leaders that has yet to abate despite Lim’s apology for sounding harsh and arrogant.
Yesterday, SAPP secretary-general, Richard Yong, went on a different tack, accusing DAP of failing to deliver on its promise of change following the Sarawak state election on April 16.
He said that what had happened instead was that it had landed the Chinese community there in the opposition while the Bumiputeras were represented by other parties and remained in government.
“This is the ‘two-party system’ championed by DAP, with the Chinese in the opposition and the Bumiputeras in the government.
“This is the DAP ’416′ promise of change of toppling Taib Mahmud (Sarawak Chief Minister) on April 16.
“Instead, ’416′ turned out to be Taib’s victory because Taib was sworn in on the evening of ’416′.
“This is why SAPP urged DAP greenhorns in Sabah not to be over elated by their so-called success in Sarawak.
“Sarawak ’416′ is neither a success for the opposition nor for Sarawak nor for the Chinese community,” he said.
He said this while presenting SAPP’s analysis on the implications of the Sarawak election on Sabah.
SAPP aims for autonomy
Yong said that SAPP also disagreed with Lim’s view that “to change Sabah, we must have change in Malaysia”.
“In fact, to change Malaysia, we must have change in Sabah. This is because if the national opposition cannot win in Sabah and Sarawak, then there is no change in Malaysia.
“SAPP aims to restore autonomy to Sabah by having a change of government in Sabah and in Putrajaya. It is not sufficient to have a mere changing of urban representatives like what happened in the recent Sarawak election,” he said.
For Pakatan Rakyat to achieve its target of 15 MPs from Sabah and Sarawak, the combined Sabah opposition (Pakatan plus SAPP) has to garner 10 to 12 out of the 25 MP seats in Sabah.
“To achieve this target, SAPP respects the wishes of the people that the opposition works together.
“SAPP has been playing its part; our leaders have met with PKR and DAP leaders at various levels from top to bottom, attending Pakatan functions and building mutual confidence,” he said.
Yong also explained that the purpose of sharing the party’s analysis on the Sarawak state election with the public was in view of the “super confidence” of DAP that only they can bring change to Sabah.
“We wish to share with the public our party analysis of the DAP performance in the April Sarawak state election and its implications on the coming general election,” he said.
SAPP had sent five teams to lend moral support to Pakatan and to learn about the Sarawak elections, he added.
