Analyst says ‘Pakatan Tiada Harapan’ in Sabah
Unimas’ Arnold Puyok says Pakatan Harapan has failed in Sabah as leaders have no vision for the state, following Penampang MP’s exit from PKR.
(FMT) – Pakatan Harapan in Sabah has now become “Pakatan Tiada Harapan”, says political analyst Associate Professor Arnold Puyok, in the wake of PKR vice-president Darell Leiking’s exit from the party.
Arnold, of University Malaysia Sabah, was commenting on political developments in Sabah, such as former Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal planning to ‘take over’ an existing party and Leiking quitting PKR to join Shafie.
Arnold told FMT that Pakatan Harapan had failed to come out as a strong alternative coalition for Sabahans, because the leaders did not have a clear vision for Sabah.
He added that the Opposition pact did not even have a common policy platform to unite all the different political groups.
“I am quite sure that more will be leaving soon and form their own local-based parties or join the existing ones.”
Delving into Leiking’s exit from PKR, Arnold said he believed Leiking’s move was related to “frustrations” with the state and national PKR leadership.
“Also, like Shafie, he probably saw the political significance of riding on present local sentiments”.
He noted that Leiking’s Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) support base was confined to his parliamentary constituency of Penampang, but even then, this did not reflect a strong number as Penampang had a large number of Chinese voters.
Despite this, Leiking will bring his own loyal KDM supporters to the “new” party, adding to the KDM support brought by “Peter Anthony of an NGO with political aspirations”, KDM Malaysia, who backed Shafie.
Yesterday, it was reported that Shafie wanted to take over a Sabah-based political party as a platform to challenge Barisan Nasional in the next general election.
Leiking, along with Sulabayan Assemblyman Jaujan Sambakong, who had also quit Umno, met Shafie at the office of the Registrar of Societies (RoS) in Putrajaya.
According to a report in The Star, they discussed the takeover of the Sabah-based party and a change in its name and logo, but declined to reveal details pending approval from RoS.
