Chinese voters will be ‘kingmakers’
KOTA KINABALU: Chinese voters who made up 15% of the total number of voters in the state will be the ‘kingmakers’ in the coming 16th state election, said Tan Sri T.C Goh, president of The Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS).
He opines that although the Chinese voters made up only 15% of the total number of voters, they are nonetheless the second largest group of voters and would play the ‘kingmaker’ role in predominantly Chinese or mixed constituencies. Hence their votes are undoubtedly rather significant in determining the outcomes of this state election.
“The Chinese community has always been concerned with politics and I’m confident that like in the previous elections, they would exercise their wisdom to make a wise decision in this coming state election,” he said.
He noted that the Election Commission (EC) recently announced that the electoral roll that will be used for the 16th Sabah state election is the Main Electoral Roll 2019 and Additional Electoral Roll ST1/20220 which was revised on July 29, 2020.
This electoral roll contains 1,124,598 voters comprising 1,103,646 regular voters, 9,448 armed forces personnel and their spouses, 11,423 police and General Operations Force personnel and their spouses, and 81 absentee voters who are overseas.
Of the total number of voters, 64.17% (720,168 voters) are
Bumiputeras, followed by Chinese voters - 15.1% (170,560 voters) and the Malay voters constitute the third largest group with 13.81% (150,526 voters).
Goh who is also the President of The Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong), also acknowledged that the coming 16th state election has set six new records namely, the biggest number of political parties contesting, the largest number of seats being contested, the highest number of candidates contesting in an election, the biggest number of candidates contesting in one constituency (multiple corners fight), the biggest number of independent candidates, and it is also the first time an election is being held amidst a pandemic.
“I believe the people of Sabah, the Chinese community included, have the wisdom to make a wise decision in this state election,” he said in a statement issued yesterday.
He was commenting on the outcome of the election candidates nomination held on last Saturday, which set a number of unprecedented records.
He further noted that the six records include an increase of 13 state seats from 60 seats previously to 73 seats, following the constituencies re-delineation exercise; 447 candidates (an additional of 195 candidates as compared to 252 candidates in the previous state election); the biggest number of political parties contesting (21 parties); the highest number of independent candidates (56 candidates); the largest number of multiple corners contest per constituency (from three corners to 11 corners); and the first state election held in the country amidst a pandemic.
“This is probably also the best manifestation of our democratic system,” he said.
He reckoned that after having gone through so many elections and change of governments in the past, the people of Sabah have gained an astute political sense and wisdom and would be able to make a wise decision to elect the best political parties and candidates to form the next state government to helm and to bring Sabah to greater height.
Meanwhile, citing the detection of the Benteng and Laut Covid-19 clusters in the state, Goh urged all quarters to strictly abide by the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) mandated by the Ministry of Health, while conducting the election campaign and during voting, in order to ensure a smooth and safe state election under the new norm.
“We earnestly hope that all political parties, from both sides of the divide, would exercise great discipline, courtesy and good ethics during the election campaign period until the polling day, in order to allow the voters to elect a new state government in a smooth and peaceful manner,” he concluded.