SAPP on verge of upset in Batu Sapi
November 01, 2010
Yong's prospects improving with PKR winning BN votes. - Picture by Jack Ooi
BATU SAPI, Nov 1 — With PKR gaining ground in Batu Sapi, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) is now poised to score an electoral upset at the expense of Barisan Nasional (BN) in this week’s by-election.PKR’s campaign, initial sluggish start, gained momentum over the weekend as political bigwigs like its de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim showed up.
The inroad made by PKR, according to local political watchers, comes at the expense of support for Barisan Nasional (BN), with SAPP likely to benefit the most.
In the past few days, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders have wasted no time in making their presence felt across the sleepy hollow and have sped through hectic campaign trails into every corner across the coastal constituency.
Their noisy campaigning finally succeeded in drawing the local folk out of their quiet homes, wary but curious to see what all the fuss was about.
For over 16 years under Barisan Nasional’s (BN), the residents here have remained conspicuously complacent, quietly accepting and most significantly, politically unaware.
It is clear from conversations with the locals that they had stuck to the BN more out of habit than actual preference, revelling in its promises of development and the steady influx of election handouts.
As a result of both SAPP’s and PKR’s heated campaign tactics however, many are now beginning to whisper the word “change” that the opposition parties have been repeatedly expounding in the past few days.
And already, changes can be seen in the political landscape of Batu Sapi.
A ceramah in Taman Mawar on Saturday looked promising for PKR with a decent-sized crowd of hundreds who, despite their penchant for turning in early, stayed on until 11pm to listen to the leaders.
Taking his cue from the crowd, Anwar urged the Batu Sapi folk to follow the Sibu example and help PR conquer BN’s fortress in Sabah.
“Look at Sibu. We broke the record there. Do not forget that the popular vote in peninsular, the majority went for PR — 51 per cent. BN survived because because they have Sabah ad Sarawak but in Sibu, we broke through their fortress in Sarawak.
“We want to do the same in Batu Sapi and now, I seek for your help,” he said.
Lim did the same in his 40-minute speech and told the audience that PR’s access to Batu Sapi would carve out its road to Putrajaya.
In another political ceramah at Sanbay Hotel yesterday afternoon, the leaders successfully coaxed more than 500 people away from the Sunday routines where they repeated their promises to improve Batu Sapi and ultimately, help Sabah regain its past glory as the country’s second-richest state.
But despite gaining ground over the past few days, talk now is that PKR still remains a new entity in Sabah politics and its success in making inroads would only spell out an SAPP victory.
One observer told The Malaysian Insider today that “If PKR is successful, SAPP will win Batu Sapi.”
PKR, said the observer, would likely cause BN’s loss of some Bumiputera votes which in turn, would help narrow the vote-gap between SAPP and BN, which are seen to be the leading contenders in the fight.
Additionally, SAPP, led by political heavyweight Datuk Yong Teck Lee, a former chief minister in Sabah, has in its own right significantly narrowed its gap with BN over the past few days, turning the contest into one that is now too close to call.
By measure of personalities, the veteran Yong looks likely to be the best candidate to represent Batu Sapi in Parliament as he brings with him years of experience on the political arena.
Next is PKR’s Ansari Abdullah, an experienced lawyer who has contested many times as a candidate and who brings with him the backing of BN’s biggest rival — Pakatan Rakyat, a pact of parties that had cost the ruling coalition the loss of its two-thirds backing in Parliament.
In third place comes BN’s Datin Linda Tsen Thau Lin, the soft-spoken widow of the seat’s late MP Datuk Edmund Chong Ket Wah, whose only political experience comes from being a politician’s wife and a local deputy leader in the Wanity wing of BN’s Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).
And with PKR gaining ground especially among the Bumiputera voters, who form 59 per cent of the 25,000 strong electorate, SAPP’s chances has significantly improved.
Yong, known as the “Taiko” in Sabah, also looks a shoo-in to wrest a majority of support from the Chinese community, who form 38 per cent of the electorate.
He is also no enemy to the Bumiputeras and many of whom, when met in a number of villages across the constituency, agreed that he was the best alternative to the BN.
In a debate-turned-ceramah function in Sandakan here yesterday afternoon, Yong was given the kind of star treatment only awarded to opposition bigwigs like DAP’s Lim Kit Siang and PR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The 1,000-strong crowd comprising a significant number of Chinese voters and a mix of Muslim and non-Muslim Bumiputeras, looked starry-eyed at Yong’s brand of reform for Sabah.
The fiery leader, speaking in fluent Sabah-slang Bahasa Malaysia, drove home his Sabah-for-Sabahan concept, pushing to instil into them a sense of Sabah-centric patriotic pride and reminding them of the power they had to be an autonomous partner in the Federation of Malaysia.
“The Sabah autonomy issue is still very relevant. We need to fight for the rights of our people,” Yong reminded his audience.
His words were not lost on the eager crowd who leapt to their feet to cheer in response.
As such, if the predictions are true, Yong only needs to keep his solid support with the Chinese and maintain his popularity among the Bumiputera voters to secure a slim-majority victory for himself.
PKR, with its relentless campaigning will succeed in securing a fair number of votes to destroy BN’s chances and prove that it was gaining ground in Sabah, ahead of the next general election.
Yet another significant factor is the results in the last contest for Batu Sapi during Elections 2008 when constituents entrusted 5,771 votes to one Dr Chung Kong Wing, indicating that they were not at all afraid to vote for a non-BN candidate.
As such, the last leg of this close contest will be a crucial time for BN to convince not only the folk in Batu Sapi but all Sabahans, that they too are capable of bringing “change” to the constituency.
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