Sabah defections may backfire on BN; ‘buhangkut’ will be punished

Arnold Puyok

Sabah’s electorates are not always kind to defecting party leaders – or infamously known as “katak-ing” in Sabah. In 1994, the then opposition PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) leaders left the party either to join BN or to form their own parties.

The mass defections from PBS forced the party to give up power to BN. And the 1995 general election results were telling: some of the defecting leaders lost in the election.

The voters were clearly angry and were not afraid to punish the “buhangkut” (a Kadazandusun word for frog), such as Jeffrey Kitingan, Bernard Dompok, Monggoh Orow, Othman Minudin and Limun Laikim.

The story did not end there. In the 1999 state election, more of the defecting leaders were punished. Dompok, who worked to get back his former Moyog constituency, was once again defeated.

PBS offshoots such as the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), Parti Demokratik Sabah (PDS) and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) failed to make inroads.

The 1995 and 1999 elections results combined indicate the response of the voters towards elected representatives who jumped from one party to another.

Sabah voters driven by personality politics

One should understand that Sabah voters in general are driven by personality politics and parochialism. This partly explains why errant elected representatives are often punished in the elections by the voters.

So, instead of boosting BN’s strength in Sabah, the recent resignations of PKR members and their pledge to support the ruling party could well backfire.

The decision made by Prime Minister and BN chief Najib Abdul Razak and Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman to hold a press conference to welcome the former PKR members is a wrong strategy to boost the ruling party’s popularity.

In fact, it may cause BN to lose support, especially in the Kadazandusun-majority areas.

Instead of accepting the former PKR leaders and trying to make it appear as if support for BN is growing, the ruling party should go to the ground and understand the reasons why it was rejected by mostly the Kadazandusun voters.

Of course, no one should be prevented from joining and supporting the BN cause, but to make a big fuss of the admission into BN by “disgruntled” and “insignificant” former members of PKR shows that the ruling party is desperate to win support.

Najib might want to create an impression that PKR is losing support and BN is slowly gaining ground.

But he should know the fact that Sabah politicians can change their political allegiance as fast as a “girl changes clothes” – to borrow a line from American singer Katy Perry’s lyrics.

Anwar was also trying to create the same impression when accepting Wilfred Bumburing and Lajim Ukin into PKR. But he was not able to use the two former BN leaders to increase support for the opposition.

In fact, PKR was in tatters due to acrimony between the party’s pioneering members in Sabah and supporters of the two former BN leaders.

The only way for BN to increase its popularity in Sabah is to understand what the electorates want and to address these matters fast.

BN has no reason not to do this because it has the power and resources to solve people’s problems.

The BN must not listen too much to Sabah leaders who say they are fighting for the people when in fact they are only interested in fighting for their own personal interests. The same goes for PKR, if it wants to provide the alternative to BN.

PKR cannot continue to allow internal bickering to weaken its presence in Sabah. It has to move fast to address its structural weaknesses and to turn itself into a mass political organisation.

The only way to do this is to allow for a succession plan to take place, so that the younger generation of leaders can chart a new strategy to ensure effective opposition politics in Sabah.

Source: http://borneoinsider.com/2013/12/05/sabah-defections-may-backfire-on-bn-buhangkut-will-be-punished/