Result a wake-up call for Opposition

KOTA KINABALU: The Sarawak election result is a wake-up call for the bickering Opposition parties in Sabah.

Sabah DAP secretary dr edwin bosi said the dismal performance of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Sarawak National Party (SNAP) was a costly lesson that the Sabah Opposition should learn from and avoid.

PKR won only three out of the 49 seats it contested while SNAP had only one candidate who managed to retain his deposit.


“This is the result of the failed negotiations between the two parties to agree on one-to-one fights with the Barisan Nasional,” he said.

“The irony is that both PKR and SNAP are Pakatan Rakyat members,” he said, adding that DAP had formed a three-man team to talk to its partners PKR and PAS over the sharing of seats. “The team also hopes to discuss with local-based Opposition, the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) to chart a common strategy against the Barisan.”

SAPP president Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee concurred that there was a need for the Opposition to strategise as any change in the Federal Government would depend on a shift towards the Opposition in the Borneo states.

“The state election result, when translated into parliamentary seats, mean that the Opposition could capture only four or five seats in the main towns,” said Yong, whose SAPP pulled out of the Barisan in 2008 but did not join Pakatan Rakyat. There are 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak.

Yong said the key to changing the government lied in the combined strength of both the rural and urban areas.

“A rally of 35,000 people in Penang was sufficient to change the state government in 2008. But in Kuching, a rally of 35,000 cannot even change the city mayor.”