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KOTA KINABALU – Parties on both sides of Malaysia’s political divide remained at odds on Thursday morning (September 10) on who to run for the Sabah state elections, fueled by internal rivalries just days before the nominations .
Allied parties of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional (PN) camp dropped a candidate announcement event and called it a leaders’ meeting amid a showdown of potential senior ministers should they win in the 26 state elections. of September.
Umno, PN’s largest party, released a list of 31 names to the press, which left out its influential former Sabah chief, Musa Aman, and instead featured another former chief minister, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak.
Meanwhile, Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia has delayed its opening until 3pm, with speculation abound that Tan Sri Musa will be dispatched by a PN component.
“Other Umno leaders just don’t have the same resources as Musa to help us win across the state,” a PN leader with knowledge of the matter told The Straits Times.
Musa was Sabah’s prime minister for 15 years until the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition was toppled in 2018.
Another PN allied faction, Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku Rakyat Sabah (Star), also participated in the heated negotiations. Chief Jeffrey Kitingan flew back to Kota Kinabalu from Kuala Lumpur late Wednesday for a final round of talks after his party was not allocated at least 15 of the 73 available seats it demanded in an ultimatum issued on Monday. .
Discussions are equally tense on the rival camp with no certainty that the overlapping claims have been resolved.
The so-called Warisan Plus pact under outgoing Prime Minister Shafie Apdal went ahead with the announcement of 66 candidates, ahead of the official nomination on Saturday for the Sabah elections on Thursday morning, but fewer than those that are supposed to. present Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).
This means there are seven left for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s party, which insists on competing in 14 districts, six more than the number of seats it contested in 2018.
“This increase is reasonable given the increase in seats in the assembly from 60 to 73,” said Sabah PKR chief information officer Simsudin Sidek.
But Datuk Shafie told reporters that “we are quite prepared for the consequences that we are going to face.”
Warisan President Shafie and PKR counterpart Anwar are also rivals at the federal level, with both men vying to be the opposition prime minister in the upcoming national elections, which are expected to take place early. of the next year.
The Sabah state poll was launched after Musa lured defending assemblymen to his field, depriving the Shafie administration of a majority.
Musa hoped to lead the state government with assemblymen aligned with him without going to the polls. However, the state governor chose to dissolve the assembly and call elections.
While the state election on September 26 does not directly affect which coalition forms Malaysia’s federal government, it is an indicator of where the loyalties of voters lie. Sabah, an undecided state, is a potential kingmaker in the general election, as it is represented by 25 of the 222 lawmakers in Parliament, the third highest number after Sarawak and Johor.
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