DEFEATED....
In the last general election, Joseph defeated his younger brother Jeffrey who
contested on a PKR ticket in a three-cornered fight that included an
independent candidate.
By : MICHAEL KAUNG
KOTA KINABALU: The Kitingan
brothers, Joseph Pairin and Jeffrey, are set to lock horns again for contest of
the Kadazandusun and Murut heartland of Keningau parliamentary constituency.
Pairin, who is the president
of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), one of the members of the Sabah Barisan Nasional
(BN), is expected to defend the Keningau seat in the coming 13th general
election.
In the last general election
in 2008 he defeated his younger brother Jeffrey who contested on a PKR ticket
in a three-cornered fight that included an independent candidate. Pairin polled
14,598 to Jeffrey’s 10,334 while independent Peter Kodou managed 560 votes and
lost his deposit.
Jeffrey is also contesting
for the state seat of Bingkor again. In 2008 he polled 4,418 votes, narrowly
losing to BN candidate Justin Guka who won with a 171 majority by polling 4,589
votes. Two independents, Thomas Anggan and Victor Leonardus, lost their
election deposits.
The STAR chairman has
expressed confidence that the STAR’s pact with two other Sabah-based political
parties, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) and Usno could pull a surprise out of
the bag against the ruling BN and the opposition front Pakatan Rakyat that
comprises PKR, DAP, PAS and the Pakatan friendly groupings APS and APPS.
He believes the failure to
reach a pact with the opposition coalition will not affect the state-based
parties and will in fact complement their Borneo Agenda vs Malaya Agenda
approach.
“It will be difficult to
ensure a one-to-one fight because there will be independent candidates and so
on. Anyway, Pakatan intends to take it all so it is better to know it now than
later,” he said.
The maverick politician,
often criticised for frequently switching allegiances and parties, based his
confidence on the encouraging response received from voters who he claimed
wanted to see drastic changes in Sabah’s role and position in Malaysia.
He said this fitted well
with local opposition parties’ agenda of restoring Sabah’s economic and
political autonomy.
“We have not seen a negative
response. We have seen only enthusiastic response everywhere we went. If this
is a reflection of the voting behaviour, we can expect to be given the mandate
to take over the government,” Jeffrey was quoted as telling a local daily this
week.
He said his party has been
vigorously campaigning on the ground the past few years and that the party’s
election machinery was ready to tap the sentiment of Sabahans.
Seat distribution between
STAR, SAPP and Usno has also been sorted out, he claimed, adding that there
would be “friendly contests” in certain areas.
Malaya Agenda vs Borneo
Agenda
STAR, is sticking to its
initial plan of focusing on mostly Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) areas in the west
and interior part of the State, while SAPP (Sabah Progressive Party) will go
for urban areas.
Usno is entrusted to tackle
the mostly Muslim-majority seats now controlled by Sabah Umno in the east
coast.
“Of course, we have been
campaigning all this while. The focus now is to get more support, by ensuring
the people understand our agendas,” said Jeffrey.
“We may not agree 100% on
everything but we are trying to negotiate these minor differences. The
important thing now is to get the people to understand and support our
objectives.
“Our strategy is that
one-to-one means Malaya Agenda versus Borneo Agenda, meaning voting for Pakatan
Rakyat or BN is voting for Malaya Agenda and voting for us is voting for Borneo
Agenda. This is what we are trying to do, together with SAPP,” he said.
STAR, he said, is targeting
“at least 41 seats” and confirmed he would contest the Bingkor state seat as
well as the parliamentary seat of Keningau.
The party’s list of
candidates is almost completed and will be announced next week, he added.
“We are still looking at who
are the best options,” he said. (FMT)
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