Sandakan win reflects clear rejection of racial, religious politics

KUCHING: The historic win by Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the justconcluded Sandakan by-election reflects a clear rejection of the racial and religious politics played by the opposition especially Umno and PAS, said Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii.

The Democratic Action Party (DAP) lawmaker said the victory was further proof of the people's confidence that the combination of federal and state government that worked well together represented the best platform to bring about growth and development to Sabah.

"Even with almost 20 per cent reduction of voters turnout rate from the 73 per cent in the last general election, we managed to secure an even bigger majority of 11,521 votes, sweeping through almost all the voting channels including opposition strongholds of Pulau Berhala and Kampung Sim Sim. "Sandakan's racial composition is rather balanced with 51 per cent Chinese, 44 per cent Bumiputera Muslims and five per cent Bumiputera non-Muslims.

"This again shows the swing of the Malay/Bumiputera votes towards PH and their confidence in the coalition together with Warisan as the best platform to uphold the interest of all races and religions, prioritising equitable shared prosperity among all," he said yesterday when prompted for comments on the by-election outcome.

While the opposition has won three by-elections in Peninsular Malaysia by playing racial and religious sentiments and fear mongering, Dr Yii said the win by PH in Sandakan showed the rejection of the people in Sabah and East Malaysia against such divisive politics.

"While we cannot deny the significant factor of Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, but it also further enforces the confidence of the people towards a state government and federal government that is working closely together for the good of the people and the development of the state," he pointed out.

According to him, who was on the ground in Sandakan, many of the sentiments are similar to those in Sarawak with the main concern of the people about bread and butter issues including jobs and addressing the income gap between the rich and the poor in the urban areas.

He noted that only an elite few had benefited from the natural resources including land, oil and gas, timber and even tremendous tourism potentials in Sabah through corrupt practices and abuse of power over the years.