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| Anwar plays political poker in Sabah Posted: 15 Apr 2013 09:12 PM PDT
Sabah Pakatan Rakyat is yet to consolidate its list of candidates as it toys with STAR and SAPP. Pushparani Thilaganathan, FMT With nominations just days away, speculations are rife that Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is engaging Jeffrey Kitingan's State Reform Party (STAR) in a 11th hour bid to find a solution to what promises to be a crippling election for Pakatan Rakyat if it remains adamant and uncompromising on Sabah seats. Nomination is set for April 20 and by tomorrow all state Barisan Nasional component parties would have announced their list of candidates. In Sabah, KadazanDusunMurut (KDM)-based Upko and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) have already announced their candidates. Umno, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are expected to follow suit. Amidst this, Sabah Pakatan Rakyat is yet to consolidate its list. A pre-emptive announcement of some candidates by PKR Tuaran division chief Ansari Abdullah earlier this month, which was later rubbished by party deputy president Azmin Ali, has made clear the depth of distrust and angst within PKR members of the PKR central leadership. As such, these late-in-day "talks" with local parties can only mean that Anwar is troubled. Barely a week ago, Anwar said he would direct Sabah Pakatan to re-open talks – which he had himself terminated – with Sabah Progressive People's Party (SAPP). Anwar had, at one point, ridiculed SAPP when he asked the party to prove its worth. And this too after incessant meetings dating back to 2011 to discuss possible straight fights. But SAPP sources said today that they have not been approached "as yet and time is running out". SAPP is aiming to contest in 20 state and about 10 parliamentary seats. STAR, meanwhile, is targeting to contest in at least 40 state and up to 20 parliamentary seats. Word is that STAR, while weak on infrastructure, has a KDM-reach that outruns PKR's and Anwar knows this. Thus, this explains the move to reach out to Jeffrey. According to sources, Anwar's man spoke to Jeffrey late last week and "made him an offer". Meanwhile, rippling through the grapevine here are talks that Anwar's partiality towards Wilfred Bumburing and Lajim Ukin has backfired. Both defected from Barisan Nasional in July last year, pledging their allegiance to Anwar vis-a-vis PKR. Anwar had left Bumburing to harness the KDMs and Lajim to look into the Muslim votes. Herein lies the hiccup. Rumours are that Pakatan needs a bulk of KDM votes and that it doesn't have it yet. A wily politician Said a PKR member, who declined to be named: "The situation has changed. The Muslim seats can go anywhere. Lajim has influence over a few Bisaya seats. "But Wilfred [Bumburing] is in trouble. People don't trust him. Our members are saying if he [Bumburing] is sincere, then why is he not a PKR member? They will not support any of his candidates." Both Bumburing and Lajim are MPs and are likely to defend their Tuaran and Beaufort seats under the PKR banner. Both have also been pushing for their own followers to be given seats and that has not gone down well with members. But Anwar is going all-out to get Putrajaya and has declared that he needs the numbers from Sabah and Sarawak to cap their quest.
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| Posted: 15 Apr 2013 07:28 PM PDT
Lim Mun Fah, Sin Chew From a well respected federal minister to an ordinary man in the street. From a key leader in the ruling coalition to one in the opposition pact. From someone who told people not to act childish to one told likewise by others. From hiding away from public radar to open outpour of disgruntlement. From having no place to go to some place he can now stake his future on. Chua Jui Meng's more recent political journey has made a truly exciting and intriguing political soap opera of unexpected upheavals and dramatic twists. His frequent turnarounds seem to illustrate the point that there are no permanent friends nor foes in politics. Everything has to go back to square one. The naked political reality that lies before this PKR Johor chairman is: This is going to be your very last chance. Whether you can revive your political prominence will very much depend on the outcome of the Segamat battle. There are 47,115 voters in the Segamat parliamentary constituency, of whom 21,502 or 45.64% are Chinese, 20,921 (44.4%) Malays and 4,692 (9.96%) Indians and others. Looking at the figures, this is going to be a mixed constituency that warrants some really good effort to win. If the internal conflicts within Pakatan Rakyat could be resolved amicably, there are still chances for Jui Meng to clinch a "surprise win" and contribute positively towards Pakatan's advances towards Putrajaya. If things go as expected, Jui Meng is to face off with human resources minister S. Subramaniam from MIC, who defeated DAP's Pang Hok Liong by a reduced majority of 2,991 in the 2008 elections. A lot of changes took place during the last five years, impacting the stronghold of BN while arousing desires for change among the people in the state. Segamat's residents are not to be exempted. They have loudly demanded the establishment of an independent Chinese secondary school in town, and this gives Jui Meng a glimmer of hope to unseat BN in Segamat. However, Subramaniam has also worked very hard over the past five years and feedback from the voters has been largely positive. While he may not stop the drain of Chinese votes towards the opposition, he should be able to retain the solid support from the local Malays and Indians. Notably, the electorate structure of Segamat has experienced some changes over the same period of time. There are now 6,407 more voters than in 2008, among whom 4,273 are Malays, bringing the Malay percentage higher from 40.9% to 44.4%. On the contrary, the figures for Chinese and Indian voters pale at 1,950 (a drop of 2.39% in overall electorate) and 184 (-1.11%) respectively. Whether the surge of Malay voters could offset the negative swing of Chinese votes would be a key factor to determine the final outcome of the race. Another delicate factor will be the Indians and other races who will assume the role of the ultimate kingmakers in a tightly fought battle.
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