Who’s driving Sabah’s election campaign?

Opposition leaders are fighting to lead, but at least some are trying to project a united front.

I SAW this cartoon on one of my many Sabah politics WhatsApp groups.

“Saya ... Saya ... Saya pandu (I... I ... I drive)” shouted leaders of United Sabah Alliance (USA) as they tussled to control the steering wheel of a rickety vehicle. On the left of the USA vehicle was a solid Warisan vehicle driven by its leader and occupied by well-behaved deputies.

I shared the cartoon on Twitter with the caption: “In Sabah, it is not opposition vs BN. But opposition vs opposition.”

For those who are confused about Sabah’s alphabet soup politics, USA is an alliance of Sabah-based opposition parties – Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS), State Reform Party (STAR) Sabah, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) and Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah.

PCS is led by Tamparuli assemblyman Datuk Wilfred Bumburing, STAR by Bingkor assemblyman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, SAPP by former Sabah chief minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee and Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah by Klias assemblyman Datuk Lajim Ukin. Warisan is led by Semporna MP Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, a former Umno vicepresident.

No prizes for guessing which party commissioned the cartoon.

The cartoon is part of the “psy- war” (psychological warfare) to win the hearts and minds of the Sabah voters spoiled for choice on whom they want to vote for if they want to vote against Barisan Nasional.

Like most psywars, the cartoon gives a misleading impression of USA. It portrays it as an alliance of ambitious leaders fighting among themselves to be numero uno.

Whereas the perception USA tries to project is that of four leaders – Bumburing, Kitingan, Yong and Lajim – united in their quest to overthrow Barisan. One way they try to achieve this is by posting photographs on WhatsApp and Facebook of the four leaders together in USA’s political activities.

If you are a neutral or a Barisan supporter, it is amusing to watch opposition politicians and supporters of USA, Pakatan Harapan and Warisan at each other throats.

On Thursday, the front page of Daily Express, a Sabah newspaper, was: “Prove Warisan is genuine, Shafie told”.

Sabah DAP adviser and Kota Kinabalu MP Jimmy Wong challenged Shafie to convince Sabahans that his party was a genuine opposition party.

“I suspect Shafie is just pretending to be an opposition leader based on his actions,” said Wong, as report- ed by the Sabah newspaper.

“If his claim is true, then why is it that Parti Warisan refuses to work with the other opposition parties in the country?”

The other day, Wong’s DAP was in the line of fire. Friendly fire, as it burst from its Pakatan Harapan ally.

PKR slammed DAP for announcing its intention to contest in 10 state and three parliament seats in the interior of Sabah. PKR considers the state’s interior its territory.

“This is inappropriate and I hope DAP will refrain from doing this in future. As partners in Pakatan Harapan, the proper forum should be in our PH seat negotiation meetings and not demanding publicly,” said Sabah PKR Youth chief Raymond Ahuar.

A photograph of a newspaper cutting of Raymond’s statement was shared on several of my Sabah politics WhatsApp groups. I tweeted the photograph with the caption: “Continuation of PKR vs DAP during Sarawak polls”.

(In last year’s Sarawak polls, PKR and DAP faced each other in six seats.)

Don’t get me wrong, the opposition parties in Sabah do whack Barisan and Barisan coalition partners do bicker among themselves. But I feel the “hate” by an opposition party against an opposition party was more intense than their “hate” for Barisan.

Perhaps that’s what happens when you are fishing in the same opposition pool. In most of the 60 state seats in Sabah, it will be Barisan vs USA vs Warisan vs Pakatan Harapan.

On the day I shared on Twitter the USA vs Warisan cartoon, I received a phone call from an opposition MP based in Peninsular Malaysia. The MP wanted to know how party X, an opposition party, was doing.

“It is like an MLM (multi-level marketing) company,” I said. “It attracts members with incentives.”

“MLM?” said the rather amused politician.

I explained with an anecdote. An unknown brother of a prominent Barisan politician had joined party X. The party is marketing the unknown brother’s membership as a big coup.

On Monday, I travelled for a few hours from Kota Kinabalu to the constituency where the unknown brother’s family dominated the political landscape. I met up with his cousin who is a Barisan politician.

“How come K joined party X? His brothers couldn’t take care of him financially?” I said.

“They got fed up of bailing him out. Party X offered him RM50k to join them and he took the offer,” the cousin said.

I double-checked this story with an opposition party leader.

“RM50,000 is party X’s standard offer price (for a small-time politician),” he said.

We both laughed.

Party X is loaded. It has been organising events all over the state. Sometimes the event has a lucky draw to attract the crowd.

“Where is the money coming from?” asked a Barisan politician envious of party X’s war chest. “My party is struggling even to pay for the prepaid reload cards of our cybertroopers.”

The hottest topic in Sabah was whether state polls would be called earlier than GE14.

I’m told that there is a 50/50 possibility that it will happen. It all depends on several factors.

“The push for early Sabah polls has got something to do with Azmin’s tweet,” the Barisan politician told me in a hushed tone in a café in Kota Kinabalu.

He was referring to Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali’s tweet on Feb 10 that cryptically asked: “Is it true that a senior minister has resigned?”

Jeng, Jeng, Jeng.