Sabahans take to streets to protest another term of BN rule
(MMO) – Sabahans, angered that their voice seems to be discarded, have taken to the streets in a show of protest just a few hours before Sabah Barisan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Musa is due to be named chief minister after an 18-hour impasse.
In Padang Merdeka, a stone’s throw away from the Istana Negeri where Musa is expected to be sworn in for his sixth term, the crowd was waving flags from Parti Warisan Sabah, PKR and DAP while honking car horns, blowing vuvuzelas and carrying placards that read “Shameful Traitor” and “Listen to the Rakyat”.
“It started as just a small group of us, between 10 to 15 people who wanted to show that we were unhappy at this turn of events.
“We are normal everyday people — a housewife, a non government organisation worker, an artist, who don’t normally take to the streets, but it just shows how unhappy we are,”said Harjinder Kler, one of the first people who started the protest.
She said that they wanted it to be a peaceful protest to get the attention of the Head of State, Yang Di-Pertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin, Musa and Datuk Jeffrey Kitingan to show that the people were not in favour of the BN government.
“We feel cheated. The people have voted and the national government has changed, why would we want to go back to being state Opposition and be left behind again?
“It is time for change. Even Najib conceeded in the end, but our CM seems to be bent on staying in power,” she said.
Kler also said that their peaceful protest of less than 20 had ballooned into hundreds of people joining, some brandishing political party flags which she said was not their doing.
“It just goes to show how angry people are. I’ve seen Facebook Live videos of the protest with 20,000 to 30,000 views. People are looking at us,” she said, adding that she was worried that the crowd was beyond their control.
In the recent polls, delayed results saw an impasse between Sabah’s biggest parties — Parti Warisan Sabah with Pakatan Harapan and BN, with both taking 29 state seats each while local Sabah-centric Parti Solidarity Tanah Airku headed by Kitingan took two seats.
The results was a huge surprise for the “fixed deposit” state and voters threw out big BN names including three deputy chief ministers — Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah and Datuk Yahya Hussin.
Other casualties were then minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan and then minister of multimedia and communications Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak. The votes also showed a huge decrease in support for Musa, who won by 2,184 votes and his younger brother Datuk Seri Anifah Aman who won by 156 votes.
After some coy deliberation, Kitingan ended up throwing his support behind the BN government, indicating that he was going to be given a senior ministerial post.
Kitingan, a former federal deputy minister who had been a political prisoner under the infamous Internal Security Act and detained without trial under former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is also known to switch between parties, having been in no less than seven parties since his entry into politics in 1990.
He is arguably the most unpopular Sabahan right now, with multiple mocking monikers created for him on social media, among those “Katak” (Malay for “frog”) — referring to his party hopping — and “King Joffrey” referring to a character from Game of Thrones fantasy TV show known for being a cruel, megalomaniac ruler with delusions of grandeur.
