Sabah Local opposition parties pact will upset BN – Jeffrey
WikiSabah
KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan is confident of STAR-SAPP-Usno pact’s chances in upsetting Barisan Nasional (BN) in the coming general election.
The State Reform Party (STAR) president said his confidence was based on the encouraging response received from the people on the ground who wanted to see drastic changes in Sabah’s role and position in the Federation of Malaysia.
He said this fit well with the state opposition’s core agenda of restoring Sabah’s economic and political autonomy.
“We have not seen negative response, (in fact) we have seen only enthusiastic response everywhere we went. If this is a reflection of the voting behaviour, we can expect to be given the mandate to take over the government,” he said.
Met at the STAR’s office in Damai here yesterday, he said the party’s election machinery was all fully prepared to tap the changing sentiment among Sabahans.
He said seat distribution between the three state-based opposition partners was also more or less sorted out, adding that there would be certain areas where they have agreed to have “friendly contests”.
He stressed STAR would stick to its initial plan of focusing on mostly Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) areas in the west and interior parts of the State, while SAPP (Sabah Progressive Party) would go for urban areas.
The other partner, Usno (United Sabah National Organization), will be entrusted to tackle the mostly Muslim-majority constituencies in the east coast, he added.
“Right now our committee is going around to check and further strengthen the readiness of our machinery in every area. Of course, we have been campaigning all this while. The focus now is to get more support, by ensuring that the people understand our agendas.
“We may not agree 100 per cent on everything but we are trying to negotiate these minor differences. The important thing (for us) now is to get the people to understand and support our objectives.
“Our strategy is that one to one (contest) means Malaya Agenda versus Borneo Agenda, meaning voting for Pakatan Rakyat or BN is voting for Malaya Agenda and voting for us is voting for Borneo Agenda. This is what we are trying to do, together with SAPP,” he said.
He admitted that there were still a few seats still being discussed among the three partners but STAR at the moment is set to field candidates in at least 41 seats.
