SABAH OPPOSITION FALLING APART?

PANICKING .....Caution is being thrown to the wind and a free-for-all is emerging with potential candidates and incumbents panicking and lashing out over the possibility of being overlooked by their parties.

By : FMT STAFF

KOTA KINABALU: The scramble to be selected as candidates for the various parties in restive Sabah is swiftly exposing the sham of unity and solidarity within each.

Caution is being thrown to the wind and a free-for-all is emerging with potential candidates and incumbents panicking and lashing out over the possibility of being overlooked by their parties.

So far the fallout has been felt mainly in the opposition while the ruling coalition maintains a semblance of order.

At least that’s how some are portraying it.

Sabah PKR which was first to come under “unity scrutiny” barely a day after its Northern West Coast Zone chairman Ansari Abdullah in pre-emptive move to forestall “interference” by its leaders in Kuala Lumpur announced a proposed candidate list for seven parliamentary seats.

Ansari, who is Tuaran PKR chief said he would be contesting in Tuaran constituency, his comrade Dr Chong Eng Leong would stand in Sepanggar. The others on his list were Mazhry Nasir (Putatan), Anthony Mandiau (Kota Marudu), Mursalim Tanjul (Kudat), Saidil Semoi (Kota Belud) and Johanathan Yassin (Ranau).

But national PKR deputy president Azmin Ali dismissed Ansari’s candidate list. Sabah PKR chief Ahmad Thamrin has also denied Ansari’s list.

Barely a day later, Borneo Insider, a newly established website, reported disunity within Sabah DAP and unhappiness by certain leaders within the party.

The website reported a leadership crisis in Sabah DAP with “one winnable candidate” who had contested previously said to have change his mind on his political allegiance and would be joining the BN

The party’s sole MP, Hiew King Cheu (Kota Kinabalu), is also reported to be dissatisfied that he may not given the chance to defend the seat he won in 2008.

Quoting sources the website said the DAP leadership had to send its senior leader Teresa Kok to placate the two while the party’s leader in the state, Jimmy Wong, remains in the background.

The Penampang parliamentary constituency was won by Upko’s by Bernard Dompok in the last election, while the two state seats of Moyog and Kepayan are held by Donald Mojuntin also of Upko and Edward Khoo of MCA respectively.

With the dissolution of parliament and a defining election just weeks away, time will tell if the Sabah opposition is falling apart or if this is all a BN-induced cyber campaign?