FRESH CANDIDATES WILL MAKE DEBUT

By: MOHD JEFRI RADIUS

CAN we rule out the possibility that several of the currently serving honourable Members of Parliament or State Assemblymen be it from BN or Pakatan Rakyat or those not politically associated with any of them, will no longer be fielded as candidates in the coming 13th General Election for certain reasons?

Speculatively, there is greater likeliness that changes or replacement of candidates will take place nationwide especially in Sabah, the ‘Land Below The Wind‘ where the domination of older generation of BN components representatives is prominent and to pave the way for fresh candidates to join the fray within the same political umbrella or platform.

This would possibly match or suit the opinions of the rural folks most of whom are heard whispering, These candidates need to be changed and we better look for somebody else fresh to replace them, there is nothing the incumbents have done for our constituents to claim credit for further support from us.

We have given them the chances a couple of times by supporting them through the ballot boxes, but still they do not realise that they are not performing well to our expectation, furthermore, we have rare opportunities of being able to meet our YBs even after office hours, when we go to meet them in their office, they will give excuses telling us that they have several urgent matters to attend and would only be available next time.

It will make matter worst if we are to keep them longer as our representatives to the extent that it will make us feel more guilty as if we are left with no option other than to flog the same ‘dead horses’ for another span of five year period thus ‘adding more salts to our wounds’, so goes the pitiful and disappointing cries heard breaking out from every corner of the rural villages of most rural folks in the Interior.

Perhaps, there is justification on part of the peoples’ opinions in bringing forth the logical reasons which explains why several of their YBs must go in view of their poor performance and must be replaced by other prospective, visionary and outgoing candidates with the people’s hearts, while the caring representatives, who deserve support must be chosen for another terms to serve the people more.

No matter what, the fates of these ‘Dead Horses’ will be determined by leaders of their respective political organisations, to gauge whether their unsatisfactory level of performance, truly warrant them no longer suitable to be re-nominated in the coming general election.

The feedback gathered somewhere seems to hint us the likeliness that alternative candidates will be brought in by their parties’ leaders to replace the incumbents is apparently obvious with certainty.

Retrospectively, unlike during the reign of the late CM Tun Mustapha, the Father of Sabah’s Independence and commanding leader of the previous USNO led Alliance State Government for eight years (1967–1975), whence the selection of political candidates was categorically made based upon Mustapha’s sole favourite taste, whereby he could hand pick and gave his blessing to the candidates, whom he judged as rhetoric and supportive of his political mission even if the candidates in question did not have the necessary tertiary education neither capable of even to converse in simple grammatical English Language so to speak.

However, judging from the perspective of our State backgrounds in those days just after achieving Independence via the Federation of Malaysia, it is fair to give Mustapha the exception in the way he managed his political strategy, as there was possibly only a handful of native leaders with formal university education compared to what we have today.

The Nation’s first PM the Late Tengku Abdul Rahman Al–Haj even appointed a legal advisor the late Datuk Syed Kechil Syed Mohammed from Kedah to render legal services to Mustapha‘s State Administration, when he sensed no local was qualified for the job yet or maybe Tengku had other reason for choosing Syed Kechik to be part of Mustapha’s thank tank.

What matter much to the late Tun Mustapha’s election strategy was to secure the right number of seats with the majority to form an effective State Government by whatever means. The massive conversion of the atheistic rural folks into the Islamic faith in the late 60’s through the State’s religious body, the United Sabah Islamic Association (USIA) was one fine example set by the Mustafa Administration as the mean of solidifying his political influence state wide.

Let alone those who embraced the Islamic religion for certain known purposes e.g for ease of access to approval of timber land’s application directly addressed to the late Tun Mustapha, who had the sole discretionary power in granting official consent to this nature of application in his capacity as the State Chief Minister in charge of The State Forest Resources etc.

The blessing part of the late Tun Mustapha’s State Administration was that he brought fortunes and windfalls not only to several people closer to him but ethnic Bumiputera businessmen were given quantum of opportunities in business but they failed to progress in their ventures when they focused more and relying excessively on “the Business Concept of The Ali Baba System,“ the easiest way of getting instant commission payout by percentages without putting a hand in the project operational management at all etc.

Significantly, Mustafa could not be forgotten in Sabah’s History for his role and initiatives in materializing the name change of the State Capital from Jesselton, after the Colonial Governor, to Kota Kinabalu, which is presently projected and marked in World Administrative & Tourism Map internationally.

Nevertheless during the crux of Mustapha’s administration, he was not spared from being branded as “a Dictator and as an exponent of the Iron Fist Rule.” By virtue of the Emergency Power vested upon him as the State Security Leader, Mustapha could direct The State Commissioner of Police to get the enforcement squads moving to clear up the mess, whichever in his opinion could threaten the security of the State & Country.

The hauling up of several political candidates tipped to contest as opposition in the State General Election way back in early 70’s is a case in point. Mustapha went all out and did not turn back in making use of every opportunity available within his discretionary power for the advantage of his political platform, although he might have knowingly realised that he had deprived other Malaysian of their political rights in the State by abusively enforcing the Emergency Power in those days.

I recalled a friend who is still living telling me of his nightmares, while being actively involved in Sabah politics as candidate of the then opposition political organisation known as the United Sabah Action Party (USAP) formed in early ‘70’s by former MP of Tuaran Datuk Kalakau Untol, who later joined PEKEMAS when USAP was dissolved in 1974.

The candidates aligned with the opposition party in question, were hauled up somewhere in the middle of the road leading to the nomination centre even before their nomination forms reach the Returning Officers table and being detained at Kepayan Prison for an indefinite period of time, thus giving the exceptional advantage to Mustapha’s supporting candidates, who won most of the seats uncontested.

The USNO led State Government continued ruling via this ‘Mandate’ for another consecutive terms without strong opposition in the Legislative Assembly House, until the advent of Parti Bersatu Rakyat Jelata Sabah (Berjaya) which stripped Tun Mustapha of the majority to remain in power, when the Chinese community rendered full support to Parti Berjaya for a change of the State Government in the 1975 General Election (Berjaya won 28 seats of KDM & Chinese dominated constituencies, while USNO retained the 20 seats of the Muslim dominant area).

The votes casted by the eligible younger generation in favour of Berjaya in that State General Election was another contributing winning factor. During the crux of Mustapha’s Rule, the State Police followed directive from Mustapha to track down youngsters in the streets sporting long hairs state wide. Those caught would get their hair cut at every local police station and would only be released once the naval crew hair cut had been carried out by the ‘Barbers.’ I was caught twice while this operation was enforced during my younger days.

In the views of many living Sabahan, “Mustapha had erred without realising that such nature of operations had truly backfire at the expense of his government”, which was very true indeed as proven by the aftermath of the 1975 ‘s General Election.

Since then, the resurgence of Mustapha his his political vehicle USNO to grip back administrative power in the State was in absolute checkmate position until its dissolution in 1990 to make way for the entry of the Nation’s biggest political backbone UMNO into Sabah ‘s soil with the mission –“to put things right where PBS had put it wrong.”

Berjaya, the multiracial political party led by former CM Datuk Harris Mohd Salleh who took over the helm of administration upon the sudden death of its president the late Tun Fuad Stephen in the Double Six Air Crash Tragedy (June 6, 1976) did manifest some improvement on the choice and selection of its qualified candidates representing the party in any election during their terms of administration in the State until its downfall in early 1984.

By comparison, PBS had pioneered the political strategy of fielding several qualified candidates with good academic backgrounds especially in the Legal Profession in the 1985 State General Election following the dissolution of its 25 seats simple majority State Government which had raised controversies in Sabah political history. Every fresh and new face candidate contesting on PBS Tickets in that particular election had turned out victorious in their respective home constituencies securing landslide majorities.

As our Nation is entering the advance phases of the 21st Century’s Globalisation Era parallel with the “Open Sky Policy or the Sky Is the Limit,“ the decision of hand picking rhetoric candidates with low academic backgrounds to contest in any election has become things of the past.

The Pocket Oxford Dictionary defines the term ‘Politics’ as The Science of Government. Hence, someone keens to embark in this specific field must be a product of the learned world with good general knowledge relevant to modern politics, keeping abreast and well updated with the current affairs that take place domestically, regionally and globally.

Prospect for candidates with the recognised qualifications would augur well with the criteria in today’s politics especially those mastering in International Affairs. Other aspects that need to be considered apart from the intending candidates’ academic attainment will include the backgrounds of their families, their level of exposures and past contributions to the local communities, the nature of their personalities and attitudes etc.

Are they by character an outgoing type, cordial, approachable or ready to meet and mingle with every strata of the public or otherwise? If the checklist is affirmative, except for Criminal Records, theoretically the prospective candidates will stand better chance of winning.

However, in the event that a couple or more candidates having similar status of qualifications and backgrounds contesting in one constituency, whereby a three or four cornered contest taking place, then the winning chance of each contesting candidate would depend entirely upon the candidates’ strength and availability of election campaigning machinery inclusive of funding and strategies.

Although, a figures has been spelt out in the Election Commission Act allowing limit of spending for contesting candidates, it is hard to rule out that funding would come from other undisclosed source to ensure the victory of the favorites candidate in the election.

This is a very common election campaigning tactic practised in most democratic countries. In The Philippines for example, the contesting candidate would need the 3 Gs, which represent Golds, Guns and Goons in order to win in any election particularly in the Congress or Provincial Level.

In Malaysia, we are just fortunate that the Golds maybe the Goons are only allowed but not the Guns, otherwise the election campaign will be smeared with blood if the later is to be permitted that is how our local authority maintain peace in this country by restricting the use of firearms only to licensed owners.

Sabah BN Component which comprise UMNO, PBS, UPKO, PBRS or LDP will not be facing shortage of potential candidates with better academic qualifications in the event that such replacement of incumbents will take place during nomination day so do the Sabah Opposition Pakatan Rakyat and SAPP which is purely State based political party.

Hence, we leave it to the wisdom of the respective leaders of political parties found in the State namely CM Datuk Seri Musa Aman, as the BN Component and Sabah UMNO Liaison Chief and the Opposition PR State Leaders to go through the profiles of their prospective candidate deem fit and most suitable to be nominated to contest within their home constituencies in the coming 13th General Election. Let us hope that our folks will stick to their words and will not change their minds in front of the ballot boxes when the time comes to cast their votes.