Parties woo Sabah’s Chinese ‘kingmakers’

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Apr 24, 2013

(Today Online) – “Long before the 2008 ‘political tsunami’ took place in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah has already experienced three changes of government … and the Chinese votes were at the heart of it all.”

While they make up only about an estimated 15 per cent of the 980,000-strong electorate in Sabah, Chinese voters could play a pivotal role in the coming elections — a fact underlined by Prime Minister Najib Razak’s presence at a dinner organised yesterday by the Federation of Chinese Associations of Sabah, on the first day of his visit to Malaysia’s third most populous state.

Despite a marked decline in the number of Chinese in Sabah over the last few decades, the Chinese community — the majority of whom live in the urban centres of Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau — remains the largest non-indigenous group in Sabah, making up about 9 per cent of the three-million population.

Politicians here said they are going all out to win over the Chinese voters, who have been dubbed as the “kingmakers” in Sabah politics.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat candidate Roland Chia, who is contesting in the Chinese-majority state seat of Inamam, said: “Long before the 2008 ‘political tsunami’ took place in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah has already experienced three changes of government … and the Chinese votes were at the heart of it all.” Sabah is currently held by the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

Former Chief Minister Yong Teck Lee of the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) pointed out that including himself, Sabah has had three Chinese chief ministers. “That’s proof that the Chinese have played a major role in the politics of Sabah,” he said.

But he added that Sabah’s social fabric is “not quite the same” as compared to that of Peninsular Malaysia. “There is not much racial polarisation here and to take your political fight along racial lines here won’t take you far,” he said. Indeed, inter-ethnic marriages among the 32 officially recognised ethnic groups are rampant here.

To win their hearts and minds, Chinese Sabahans TODAY spoke to want concerns such as cost of living and security to be addressed. There is also unhappiness about the large droves of illegal immigrants who are purportedly given identity cards.