KOTA KINABALU: The tsunami effect of Chinese voters to totally reject all eight of the DAP candidates is a reflection of the community’s disenchantment with the party, says analyst Associate Prof Dr Lee Kuok Tiung.
He said the national party did not seriously look at the real local issues close to the hearts of the people in the state and paid a heavy price.
He said the emergence of local party sentiment as well as the Sabah rights issues, together with the 40% revenue return, were among the issues the national and state DAP leaders failed to understand and address.
“It is a dramatic outcome, a Chinese tsunami very similar to what exactly happened in peninsular Malaysia before,” said Prof Lee, who is a senior lecturer with Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
“I believed their leaders from the Peninsula campaigning here underestimated the emphasis on the local issues. They underestimated the importance of the basic infrastructure issues.
“It is likely to have contributed towards the overall swing against DAP that many voters from the community felt let down as they had high hopes in helping Sabah achieve its rights,” he said, referring to the talk among the community to “teach DAP a lesson,” ahead of the election.
Prof Lee said internal problems, especially highlighted by former Sabah DAP chairman Datuk Frankie Poon also contributed to the losses.
“The selection of some of the candidates could also have irked the voters,” he added.
“It’s a wake-up call for DAP, the Chinese are rejecting them. They need to rethink their strategies in terms of the leadership and grassroots support in response to the Chinese socio-political context if they want to regain footing.
“They should take this Sabah election outcome seriously,” Prof Lee said.
A former Sabah Chinese community leader felt that DAP, as an Opposition party, gained people’s support by highlighting weaknesses and needs of the people, but as part of the government, they were now seen telling people to follow the government policies even though people felt uneasy over the policies.
“Coming into government with the reformation agenda, people feel that they are not delivering their promises and assurances.
"This result in Sabah reflects their frustration, especially with the way federal DAP leaders handled the call for the Federal Government not to appeal against the 40% court decision,” said the retired politician.
Sabah DAP’s silence on the businessman Albert Tei's allegations on the mining prospecting licence bribes, as well as the controversial issue of the RM20mil redevelopment of Tun Fuad Botanical Garden in Bukit Padang here, also raised eyebrows among the people on the commitment to fight corruption, claimed the retired politician.
“Botanical park issue stained the local leaders in the eyes of the community, as after a major development over three years, people were complaining that it was overpriced and nothing much had changed.
“It does not mean any hanky-panky, but the issue raises questions in the public eye over the DAP leader's involvement,” he added.
He also felt that the people felt slighted when DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke attacked Upko president Datuk Ewon Benedick for his resignation as federal Cabinet minister in protest of the government's move to appeal the Kota Kinabalu High Court’s ruling on the 40% rights.
“When Loke said Ewon was no hero for his action, I believe many Sabahans felt that he was talking down on their state rights,” the leader said.
