Hopping season is in full swing again
Joceline Tan, The Star
IT looks like Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal has been seriously underestimated.
The former Umno leader has been keeping his head low and his mouth shut since getting sacked from Umno but he has not been sitting around doing nothing, going by the mini political earthquake he caused in Sabah.
Shafie has stirred up the Sabah political scene in a way that has not been seen in a long while.
He has triggered some sort of domino effect in Sabah that may see national opposition parties like DAP and PKR become irrelevant in the state.
Shafie is essentially saying that any opposition party or coalition that wants to replace Barisan Nasional in Sabah has to be Sabah-based, the implication being that imported parties will never be fully accepted by Sabahans, especially the indigenous community.
He is obviously trying to replicate the Sarawak formula after watching how Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem and Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) rode on state nationalism to win the state election.
His battle cry will be “Sabah for Sabahans”.
But thanks or, rather, no thanks to Shafie, the opposition parties in Sabah are in total disarray.
For a while, it seemed like political frogs had gone out of fashion but there is now a revival in Sabah.
The hopping season is in full swing as elected representatives and politicians from PKR and DAP quit their respective parties to join new parties in the making.
PKR in Sabah has been left like a headless man.
Party vice-president and Penampang MP Darell Leiking was the first to resign. He made his intentions clear when he appeared alongside Shafie at the Registrar of Societies last month.
On Sunday, the party’s Sabah chief and Klias assemblyman Datuk Lajim Ukin quit with plans to form his own party.
Others who have left included top office-bearers of Sabah PKR like Terrence Siambun (Moyog assemblyman and information chief), Maijol Mahap (secretary) and Johair Matlan (Wanita chief).
DAP has also been left without generals.
The party was badly hit by the resignations of Junz Wong (Likas assemblyman and secretary), Joan Goh (deputy chairman), George Hiew (vice-chairman) and David Williams (treasurer).
DAP leaders are fuming and have demanded that Wong resign his Likas seat for betraying the party and for trying to “tear down the old house” in his bid to set up a new home.
Lim Kit Siang is said to have taken it badly because he had devoted a lot of time to the party’s Sabah chapter and tried but failed to persuade Wong not to resign.
PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, according to party insiders, shed tears on the day that Leiking went to her house to tell her he was quitting.
Her party is facing its worst crisis in Sabah but her statement on the resignations sounded like that of a grandmother excusing her grandson for misbehaving.
But the PKR people say it is difficult to be angry with Leiking. He is an affable man, always smiling, regards everyone as his friend and, with a family name like Leiking, what is there not to like about him.
The mass exodus caught everyone by surprise and that was why both DAP and PKR were at a loss on how to react.
The latest developments spell doom and gloom for DAP and PKR in Sarawak and Sabah.
But the fact that there will be an opposition coalition made up of only Sabah-based parties is also a threat to the ruling coalition.
No one can quite predict what its impact will be. Has Shafie opened the floodgates for more exits given talk that another DAP assemblyman is preparing to jump ship?
The most amazing thing is that, overnight, Leiking has become the Kadazandusun leader to watch. He is being seen as the man who could potentially take away even more Kadazandusun support from Barisan Nasional partners like PBS and Upko, which are being led by ageing and uncharismatic leaders.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman has not said a word yet. But Musa knows Shafie has his eye on the chief minister’s post.
DAP has quickly moved to fill the posts of those who left. Despite the hurt and setback, the party swallowed its pride to say that it is willing to work alongside the new parties but with conditions.
It is rare to find DAP eating humble pie but its Sabah leaders appealed to Wong not to take away any more leaders and also that the party be allowed to keep the seats won in the last general election.
Suffice to say that opposition parties like DAP and PKR will not be the ones setting conditions or calling the shots in Sabah in the next general election.
Imported parties will have a tough time taking on state nationalism and the battle cry of Sabah for Sabahans.
This is the kind of development with the potential to excite and capture the imagination of the younger voters.
Umno, the biggest import from the peninsula, will also need to rebrand its message to take on the new Opposition.
It is still unclear how the cards will fall in Sabah, but what Shafie is doing is set to change the political game in Sabah.
