Warisan, allies seek two-thirds majority win to prevent coups - Chan

INTERVIEW | Sabahans have been urged to give a strong mandate to either Perikatan Nasional (PN) or the Warisan-led political pact at the upcoming Sabah state elections to ensure a stable government.

This would prevent the recurrence of a hung assembly as seen after the 2018 general election when both sides won 29 seats each, leading to horse-trading and political coup attempts forcing the dissolution of the state assembly.

Sabah DAP secretary Chan Foong Hin (above) said that either side must win enough state seats coupled with a convincing share of the popular vote at the next state polls which must be held the latest by end-September.

"It should not be a slim majority or a hung assembly like the one in 2018 general election," he told Malaysiakini in a recent interview.

"Regardless of whom the voters support, they should give a strong mandate to either side of the political divide," he said.

On that note, he said DAP, together with Warisan's other allies, PKR and Upko, eyed to win 45 to 50 seats out of the 73 up for grabs, a two-thirds majority if they can pull it off.

This would be a huge gain compared to the 29 seats they won in the last polls under caretaker chief minister Mohd Shafie Apdal.

A higher popular vote share is also needed by Warisan-Pakatan Harapan which won around 47.19 percent of the vote in 2018 compared with BN's 42.04 percent, added Chan.

He remained optimistic Warisan and its allies could win convincingly, saying that the ground sentiment was building up against former chief minister Musa Aman who is alleged to have engineered the defection of 13 government lawmakers.

Sabahans, he added, generally believe that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin allegedly played a role in the most recent political coup attempt as his lieutenant Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin, as well as his political secretary, were seen in Sabah.

"Most Sabahans believed Muhyiddin was behind the katak ('frog' to denote party-hopping) move. They think Muhyiddin was behind Musa, state BN chief Bung Moktar Radin, and state Bersatu chief Hajiji Noor," said Chan.

"This is not an issue of Muhyiddin being a good man or a bad man. But you shouldn't interfere with the Sabah state government. (Who forms) the state government should be decided by Sabahans instead of by Kuala Lumpur," he said.

As such, he said DAP felt that the coming battle should be framed as "Sabah vs 'frogs'/traitors" and "Shafie vs Muhyiddin".

Despite this, critics have been drawing a comparison between Musa and how Shafie grabbed power in 2018 to justify the former's recent coup attempt.

In the 2018 polls, both Warisan-Harapan and BN won 29 seats each in the then 60-member assembly. The former launched a power grab 48 hours after BN took power by securing the support of Upko which had won five seats.

Development agenda

Chan argued that it was wrong to compare both political coup attempts, as support for Musa had decreased after he attempted to force a comeback. Additionally, Warisan-Harapan had a larger 47 percent popular vote share, compared to BN's 42 percent, when the power shift took place in 2018.

Musa, the six-term Sungai Sibuga state assemblyperson retained his seat with a majority of 2,184 in 2018 compared with an 11,569 majority in 2013.

Shafie, the six-term Semporna MP, contested a state seat for the first time in the last polls. He won by a majority vote of 5,301.

Chan said that, moreover, a recent survey showed Shafie's approval ratings had hit 60 to 70 percent, slightly higher than the approval rating for the state government helmed by him.

This was partly because of a  series of measures taken by Shafie including banning the export of round logs to push local manufacturing, the issuance of land grants, as well as plans to restructure Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), said Chan.

The state government under Shafie planned to take over SESB from Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) in a bid to reduce power costs, according to him.

He said Shafie also dissolved the Central Board, a state body set up to decide on development issues, and gave local authorities the power to decide on relevant development matters.

Chan also defended Shafie's move to issue over 1,000 land grants to villagers after the state legislative assembly was dissolved recently. It was reported that Shafie had presented 1,309 native titles in a span of five days.

"During Musa's era, the state government only issued community grants instead of individual land grants. Shafie moved to issue land titles in stages earlier this year but couldn't continue with his plan during the movement control order (MCO) period," he said.

Chan said he believed the efforts to develop Sabah was among the reasons why Shafie was still well accepted.

In relation to this, he said it was unlikely for Warisan and its allies to unveil an election manifesto this time around but they would probably highlight their performance.

The 42-year-old Kota Kinabalu parliamentarian said that he felt the sentiment on the ground was in favour of Warisan and its allies due to the way the snap poll was called.

No seat talks yet

He said he also sees sense in Warisan and its allies adopting a single logo to reflect a single team.

"In the 2018 polls, we (Harapan parties and Warisan) were on our own. But this state polls is so crucial that we must win big. So a single logo could be the way," he said.

"Whether we are going to use a single logo or own logos, we are open about it," he said, adding that no decision has been made by the parties yet.

He, however, stressed it wasn't a problem for DAP to use its own logo as the party was widely accepted in Sabah.

From the moment the "rocket" (the DAP logo) landed in Sabah in 1978, he said, DAP became a party that fought for the rights and the causes of the locals.

"We do not carry the baggage of (a Malayan party)," noted Chan.

He added that DAP, which won six urban seats in their last outing, wished to continue expanding its base of Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) seats along the western belt of Sabah.

DAP also wanted to contest in two to three seats out of the 13 new ones that were created via the last redelineation exercise.

On this point, Chan said Warisan and its allies had yet to commence any discussion on seat allocations for the coming elections.

"As to how many seats (DAP and the allies) will get, it is not important," he said.

"It is more important for us to win big. Only if we can secure an overwhelming victory in Sabah, are we able to build a (similar) momentum in Sarawak (for its state polls), and only then is there a chance for (the opposition) to reclaim Putrajaya in the next general election," he pointed out.  - Mkini

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