Liverpool’s victory triggers political chatter
SANDAKAN: Liverpool’s stunning victory against Barcelona in the Champions League has not only shocked local football fans, but also triggered political chatter here.
Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) information chief Datuk Joniston Bangkuai said that Liverpool’s victory could inspire the party to pull off an upset against DAP this Saturday.
Likening football to politics, Joniston said Liverpool’s “unbelievable” comeback could inspire PBS, an underdog in the Sandakan polls, to defeat DAP in its stronghold.
“As in football, I reckon that it is also the same in politics. Anything is possible.
“DAP may have won the Sandakan seat by a huge margin of more than 10,000 votes in GE14, but Liverpool’s ‘unbelievable’ comeback from behind would inspire PBS and its supporters that despite being the underdog in the Sandakan by-election, it is capable of creating an upset.
“Let’s do a Liverpool against DAP in Sandakan!” he said in a Facebook posting yesterday.
To get the message across, he would be wearing the Liverpool jersey in the election campaign for PBS.
“Liverpool’s exemplary team spirit and determination saw them overturn a three-goal deficit against the formidable Messi-led Barcelona with a stunning 4-0 win in the return leg at Anfield,” Joniston said.
Joniston’s remarks drew a response from DAP’s Jelutong MP RSN Rayer, who told its candidate Vivian Wong: “You will never walk alone”, in an apparent reference towards Liverpool’s trademark slogan.
Rayer also said it was “ludicrous and laughable” that PBS had asked Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin to campaign alongside its candidate Datuk Linda Tsen in the by-election.
Rayer said PBS’ strategy to use Bung Moktar to woo voters would be an act of “kamikaze” or suicidal attack in Japanese.
Rayer claimed that voters in Sandakan should reject any political parties or candidates who associate themselves with the Umno-PAS pact, which he described as a political alliance that is “dangerously spreading politics of hate and racial polarisation”.