By : THOMAS PI
LAHAD DATU: Foreign Minister
Anifah Aman, the younger brother of Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, once said
something about “lucrative positions” in the Cabinet. He was naively confirming
what many surmised.
So it is hardly surprising
that scores of Sabahans want to be contestants in the upcoming 13th general
election and some may even be forgiven for considering a new group as
organisers of Sabah’s version of “who wants to be a millionaire” with an
election slant.
Days after announcing its
formation, the “Sabah Independent Candidates Sponsorship Body” has received 30
applications by wannabe electoral candidates in the upcoming 13th general
election.
Co-founder and chairman of
the body, Abdul Kadir Tahir who launched the organisation to act like a party
to help provide voters not satisfied with the usual field of candidates, a
third choice, said he was happy with the surge of interest.
He told reporters here that
the applicants were from Pensiangan, Keningau, Pitas, Beaufort and Kuala Penyu
as well as one who wants to contest both state and parliamentary constituency
seats in an interior district.
He described the response
from the interior and west coast areas of the state as “very encouraging” and
said a second meeting would be held here soon to decide on the organisation’s
committee line-up as well as to screen all the independent applicants seeking
their help.
Part of the mechanishm to
measure applicants’ suitability for being candidates is their views on
eradicating hardcore poverty, reducing crime, corruption and malpractices
within the government.
“We want well educated,
credible and trustworthy persons to be our independent candidates… we need to
know their motives behind offering themselves to be candidates first before we
can proceed to the final decision on who will become our candidates,” he said.
Abdul Kadir, an ex-liaison
officer to former Silam MP Samsu Baharom Abdul Rahman, said the organisation’s
intention is to place its independent candidates in all 60 state and 25
parliamentary constituencies in Sabah, but a final decision would be made after
the parliament is dissolved.
‘Emphasis on clean and
healthy politics’
According to him, the body
was formed to strike a balance between the mighty Barisan National and
opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalitions. It will help its candidates by providing
“advice to them in upholding the interest of the people”.
“After one-and-a-half years
of watching the political situation in our country we feel there is a need to
provide a third force in the elections.
“With the emphasis on clean
and healthy politics, this body can play its role in assisting the new
government rule after the elections,” he said.
Abdul Kadir, who declined to
name the people backing his organisation, said the backers believe almost half
of the voters in Sabah are still uncertain who they will support, thus giving
independent candidates’ a chance.
Like many others, they are
skeptical of the country achieving developed nation status by 2020 as
envisioned in former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad if political stays quo
remains.
But the organisation is also
scornful of the opposition’s plan to fund Sabah’s development by increasing the
oil royalty it receives from the federal government from the current 5% to 20%.
Abdul Kadir said there must
be a clear change in the government’s political and administration system in
improving and enhancing its services to the people as many of its programmes
had not benefited the targeted groups.
“For examples, in the BR1M
(handouts) and (in the award of) PPRT houses, I’ve seen many wearing their gold
necklaces, earrings and bracelets who came and collected their BR1M. And many
recipients of PPRT housing scheme had renovated their flat lavishly while some
rented out and even sold off their units to third parties, so how poor really
are these people?”
Indeed, as Abdul Kadir
points out, there is little to show for the billions of ringgit spent by the
government on poverty eradication as the number of poor and hardcore poor
continued to increase over the years.
“Clearly something is wrong
here and this is why there is a need for us to come in and interfere … to
rectify the parts that had been overlooked by the authorities and to improve
the system and make it work for the people truly in need,” he said. (FMT)
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