KOTA KINABALU: Seven years ago, Datuk Peter Anthony was a shining star on the horizon of Sabah politics.
Now, after switching sides several times, the star has fallen and the political career of the 54-year-old looks to be over but it won’t be because of politics.
The Court of Appeal upheld his conviction and three-year jail sentence for falsifying documents related to a Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) contract.
With Anthony now in Kajang Prison in Selangor, the future of his fledgling Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) – which holds sway over some native seats in the interior and northern Sabah – looks uncertain.
His imprisonment will see the party reins taken over by his deputy president Datuk Weltrom Bahanda, the Bandau assemblyman and Kota Marudu MP.
With Anthony’s Melalap state seat gone, KDM’s influence may also wane, especially as it prepares for the upcoming state election, says political analyst Tony Paridi Bagang.
“However, there could also be a potential sympathy wave,” said Bagang, a lecturer with UiTM Sabah here.
To ride the sympathy wave, Anthony’s daughter may contest the Melalap seat in the state election due by September this year.
Bagang said that without Anthony’s influence, the KDM party leadership may have to reconsider its strategies and explore potential cooperation.
Other political observers did not rule out the possibility of Sabah STAR and Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) as well as Barisan Nasional’s Umno gaining from the vacuum.
Seen as a brash and upcoming Kadazandusun leader from Papar district, Anthony had been building support for his KDM party in the interior Murut heartland of Tenom.
He also roped in the politically influential Bahanda brothers – Wetrom and Datuk Verdon (Kudat MP) – into the party which he formed in 2022.
Anthony, a businessman and well known for promoting local singing talent, entered politics in 2017, joining the newly formed Parti Warisan led by Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
Warisan managed to topple Sabah Barisan government in the 2018 general election with Anthony winning the Melalap state seat. He was appointed infrastructure minister in Shafie’s state cabinet.
However, the Warisan-Pakatan Harapan government lost power in the 2020 snap state election to Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), after the Sheraton Move that saw a change in the Federal Government.
Anthony left Warisan on Dec 28, 2021, to form KDM. A year earlier, he was charged with the 2014 case involving the UMS maintenance contract when he was a businessman.
He was convicted by the Sessions Court on May 26, 2022. The Election Commission then rejected his candidacy for the Tenom parliamentary seat for the December 2022 general election.
Anthony, who initially had friendly ties with GRS and national parties after leaving Warisan, took an opposition stand against GRS at the state level but joined the federal unity government of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He had been releasing the party’s manifesto over the last six months promoting KDM for the coming state election.
It will be an election he will have to sit out, and watch from far away in Kajang.
