Ubah Sabah

By admin-s On Apr 10, 2017

Warisan has already garnered strong support in the East Coast region and their entry into Tambunan, Kundasang, Ranau and most of all the Kadazan stronghold of Penampang would most certainly spell doom for BN.

M. Ignatius

Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal’s dialogue with the people at Tambunan on Saturday, 8th April drew a large crowd with many former PBS loyalists embracing Warisan’s struggle to change the government.

Shouts of Ubah Sabah! Sabah Ubah! continue to puncture the days and confidence is high that change will indeed happen this time round.

My first adventure with Warisan began in mid-March at Sembulan Lama, situated just a spitting distance from Kota Kinabalu’s City’s modern buildings, the likes of Imago, Times Square and others just across the coastal highway and if visitors at those commercial centers were alert enough they could have heard the confident shouts of the slogan from the more than 500 people at that gathering.

Being a campaigner for the opposition PKR in the two general elections, this was the first time a function held by an opposition party drew a large crowd and I was simply amazed to see eager faces where once it was not possible to do so in areas controlled by UMNO.

Sembulan Lama falls within the State seat of Tanjong Aru which has been held by PBS Assemblyman Datuk Edward Yong for the last two terms. He won the seat comfortably in the previous general elections but from the scenario at Wawasan’s gathering there would be hills, or even mountains for BN to climb, come 14GE.

In another gathering at a village in Bongawan one week later, the mood was the same as the crowd of more than 500 people, made up of Bruneis and Kadazan/Dusuns again sounded their desire for change.

The issues in Bongawan were mostly bread and butter but their clamour for a local leader to represent them was boisterously expressed. They wanted a change from the current Member of Parliament Datuk Anifah Aman to be replaced by a local leader; preferably one who knew their area well and whose concerns would be the livelihood of the people based on the oil and gas industry sited there.

In both settings my observation is that there is indeed a very strong wind of change sweeping my state of Sabah with Warisan as the obvious choice.

The support for Warisan is tremendous along the East Coast of Sabah and is growing each day but the reservations of some people, especially from the Kadazan/Dusun stock, has to be addressed by leaders in the Party.

I believe Warisan’s foray in Tambunan more or less answered the Kadazan/Dusuns hesitation in throwing their support to the party and the entry of people who were once close confidantes of PBS President Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan would surely propel Warisan onward.

I believe the campaign discrediting Shafie as Suluk is being played by certain political groups, most of all the BN KDM leaders, and to certain extent opposition leaders who are fearful of being displaced as the de-facto leaders.

A KDM president of a dominant BN party even sanctioned racial attacks on Shafie through his share of a Facebook posting, which I feel is most unbecoming, even disgusting from a seasoned politician.

Politics should transcend beyond racial issues and sentiments and attacks of such nature should never be allowed in this multiracial and multi-cultural state of Sabah.

It has to be remembered that Shafie is a Bajau alongside Salleh Said Keruak.

Shafie is the nephew of former Chief Minister cum Governor Tun Sakaran Dandai, and he therefore deserves support to lead Sabahans in their fight to be liberated from the ‘total dominance’ of Kuala Lumpur.

The 14GE for me is akin to the era where Berjaya battled against the Alliance government led by then USNO and achieved victory because the people were fed up with suppression.

In another era, PBS battled against Berjaya on similar grounds but the lines were drawn mostly on unpopular decisions by Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh, most of all the surrender of Labuan to become Federal Territory and the abrogation of Tambunan District.

Now the people are faced with over-dominance by Kuala Lumpur’s UMNO and with the rising cost of living as well as the introduction of GST and other contentious issues, the chance for the BN government to be replaced is really palpable.

I must express my preference for Warisan’s set up where only one deputy president exists unlike most, if not all local parties in the state which have three deputy presidents.

Former PKR Vice President Darell Leiking, current Penampang Member of Parliament, now Warisan’s Deputy President, has every caliber as a young Kadazan leader and he can be counted as more than capable to lead the KDM in Warisan; and he should therefore be given the support to lead the race and so that the community’s expectations can be achieved where others have failed.

As a Kadazan I state my firm awareness that my race is no longer dominant in Sabah and the launching of the Gelombang Tataba, a so-called intent by the KDM to come back to power, by then UPKO President Tan Sri Bernard Dompok in the 13th general Elections was nothing more than a show for the party.

I pen this thought with the song by Paul Tom Imbayan, launched at one general election during the hey days of PBS, entitled “Konihab Amu Nodii Gumuli Poh” or literally translated “Yesterday Will Never Return”, and my hope is that my stock will look hard and accept the reality- that KDM can never re-take the power they once had.

The fact that PBS, UPKO and PBRS are working side by side with UMNO in BN is because they can never win back Sabah on their own and the KDMs must act now to be assured of their release UMNO’s dominance.

Borrowing US President Donald Trump’s slogan in his Presidential campaign, Sabah can be great again and it is up to Sabahans to unite and take the opportunity offered by Warisan so that the elusive change hoped for in the last two general elections can be achieved.