Commentary By
Datuk Kalimullah Hasan
KUALA LUMPUR knows little about Sabahans. Sabah is just a vote bank.
Most Sabahan leaders exploit Sabahans.
The two have, maybe unintentionally, ensured Sabahans remain poor in what was once a very rich state.
Before them, the British exploited Sabah and Sarawak.
But that’s what the British do.
Not our own. Early on, Prime Minister Anwar’s ruling coalition looked strong.
Four things happened : –
- a rogue businessman Albert Tei released videos of Government politicians accepting bribes;
- a young girl died tragically, ostensibly from bullying, blamed on powerful ruling families;
- unprecedented floods cut off water and electric supply throughout the state and more than a dozen people died;
- and the Sabah High Court allowed a contentious judicial review affirming the state’s constitutional right to claim 40 per cent of the net revenue derived from Sabah.
- Anwar’s coalition was in mayhem. In 48 hours, results will be out.
Former chief minister Shafee Apdal, who leads the Warisan Sabah-based party, looks strongest.
Chinese votes are abandoning the DAP which has acquiesced abuse through its silence.
Almost all Anwar’s cabinet have been camping in Sabah for the last two weeks.
They have asked, in desperation, the 85-year-old Lim Kit Siang and Jospeh Pairin Kitingan to come out of retirement to campaign for them.
But their influence has waned. And they are campaigning for many implicated in blatant corruption.
They are so many absolute poor in Sabah.
This is what Kuala Lumpur doesn’t know or maybe care about; and every election, most of the Sabah politicians promise a new future (yawn.) HYPOCRITES.
2025 is a battle of the uglies.
Shafee’s Warisan, seems the least ugly.
But if Shafee does win, I hope he changes the fate of his people.
The Sabah runway is almost gone.
There might not be another opportunity.
And I hope the current Governor, Musa Aman, doesn’t act as irresponsibly as his predecessors Adnan Robert (1985), Said Keruak (1994) and Juhar Mahiruddin (2020).
