STAR ASSURES NO DEFAULT WIN FOR BN UNDER 60/26

By : TARAS BULBA

NEWS STAR, the State Reform Party headed by Jeffrey Kitingan, has dismissed fears by Dap that it's recent decision to go it alone under its 60/26 approach, during the forthcoming 13th General Election, will merely hand victory by default to the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) on a silver platter.

60/26 means that Star will contest all 60 state seats in Sabah and 26 parliamentary seats including one in Labuan.

"BN must not think that it can take advantage of any apparent division among the opposition ranks," said Star deputy chairman Daniel John Jambun in a telephone call from Kuala Lumpur. "The BN is not that united either given the mud-slinging among the various factions and any number of police reports and court cases."

He was commenting on a statement by Labuan Dap Chief Lau Seng Kiat on Tues in the local media on Star’s 60/26 approach and urging Jeffrey to rethink.

It's also a foregone conclusion, he claimed, that "BN independents" as well will take on the official candidates of the ruling coalition.

He predicted that the on-going power struggle in Umno between Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman and Federal Minister Shafie Apdal would cost it dearly at the 13th GE.

The Star deputy chairman agreed with Dap that it won’t be easy to dislodge BN from power in Sabah and Sarawak but remains cautiously optimistic that all things are possible with the people’s support.

Daniel expressed confidence that the voters were intelligent enough not to split any votes for the opposition. The remedy, according to him, lies in the opposition working together to ensure a full voter turnout to guard against BN winning by default.

He cited, as an example, the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat which was won by Dap in 2008 despite the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) also entering the fray to make it a three-cornered fight with BN.

“BN supporters will of course vote for BN,” said Daniel. “So, the onus is on the opposition to bring out their supporters on polling day. Don’t expect hardcore BN supporters to swing on polling day.”

He urged Sabahans to vote for local parties and send the “parti parti Malaya” back to Peninsular Malaysia unless the latter “are willing to change their names, incorporate locally and give full autonomy to Sabahans”.

“We will not compromise on our stand that seats in the Sabah and Sarawak assembles and the seats in Parliament meant for the two states must be held by local parties,” said Daniel. “The parti parti Malaya cannot come here to strengthen their position in Parliament at our expense.”

It was in the interest of Sabah and Sarawak, pointed out Daniel, to bring back the balance of power in Parliament where Peninsular Malaysia, as envisaged by the 1963 Malaysia Agreement, should have at the most one seat less than two-thirds.

On the Dap in particular, Daniel invited it to come forward alone or with Pas and engage in sincere talks with Star on forging ways of working together in the common interest. Star, according to Daniel, had no beef with either Dap or Pas.

As an example, he cited the fact that Star leaders were currently in Kuala Lumpur to drum up support for the opposition from among Sabahans and Sarawakians living there.

Delving into other criticisms implicit in the Dap arguments on 60/26, Daniel pointed out that it was Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim who ganged up recently with Sapp on seat-sharing to put Star in a corner. Apparently, that left Star with no alternative but to re-position itself strategically.

"We were naïve to think that Sapp, being a member of our United Borneo Alliance, was committed to the struggle for Sabah and Sarawak," lamented Daniel. "In fact, it appears that they came into UBA to gather intelligence and then go on to unilaterally sow up a seat-sharing pact with Pakatan Rakyat."

Sapp, continued Daniel, is not about fighting for the rights of the people but “merely interested in being in government to gather information which they can translate into commercial gain”.

He ventured that Sapp left BN on 17 Sept 2008 when it finally realised that the return of the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) to the ruling coalition had reduced it to irrelevance.

Sapp’s presence in the opposition, added Daniel, was merely a ploy to reinvent itself and seek relevance before returning to the BN “with more bargaining powers for its leaders”.