Politics of the Wild Wild East

Last minute drama over nominations is getting everyone riled up in Sabah.

ON nomination day yesterday, Sabah fulfilled its reputation for being the Wild Wild East of Malaysian politics.

Viral videos emerged on Saturday of police firing tear gas at supporters of Parti Kesejah-teraan Demokratik Masyarakat after its president was not named as a candidate for the Tenom parliamentary seat in the 15th General Election (GE15).

The supporters of Datuk Peter Anthony – some carrying Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) flags – marched towards the nomination centre in the town in the interior of Sabah, about 150km from Kota Kinabalu.

If Anthony, an assemblyman for Melalap, one of the state seats in Tenom, was a candidate, he – arguably – could have won the seat.

The KDM president claimed that there was no problem when he submitted his nomination papers, and he was even allowed to participate in picking his number on the nomination paper. But his name was not announced as the candidate for Tenom.

In May this year, the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur sentenced Anthony, a former Sabah infrastructure development minister, to three years’ jail and a fine of RM50,000 after it found him guilty of using false documents relating to a system maintenance contract nine years ago.

The Melalap assemblyman is appealing the verdict. But could this be a reason Anthony was not given Tenom?

In Ranau, about 130km from Kota Kinabalu, a Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) leader “langgar” (breached) an electoral pact between Barisan Nasional and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS). (In Sabah, only Umno and PBRS of Barisan and the GRS parties Sabah Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, Parti Bersatu Sabah, Sabah Star and SAPP are contesting.)

Datuk Ewon Ebin, who is with PBRS (of Barisan), was Ranau MP from 2013 to 2018 but was not picked to stand there this time around; however, he still filed his nomination papers for Ranau under the PBRS party symbol. He will go up against incumbent Datuk Jonathan Yasin of Sabah Bersatu (of GRS) and other parties in a five-cornered contest.

In Beluran, a constituency on Sabah’s east coast, incumbent Datuk Ronald Kiandee, a Bersatu vice-president, langgar the GRS-Barisan electoral pact with a twist: The caretaker Agriculture and Food Industries Minister is contesting on the Perikatan Nasional ticket against Barisan’s Umno in a five-cornered fight.

He is Perikatan’s sole candidate in Sabah; Perikatan comprises Bersatu, PAS, Gerakan, Sabah Star and SAPP. (Note that Sabah Bersatu – the state chapter of the national Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia party – Sabah Star and SAPP are in both the Perikatan and GRS coalitions.)

The question everyone is buzzing about is what Sabah Bersatu, the backbone of GRS, will do to Kiandee for defying the GRS-Barisan pact?

GRS did not get the Beluran seat even though Kiandee was the incumbent. Umno demanded the seat, as Kiandee won it on Umno’s ticket in GE14 in 2018. Kiandee jumped to Bersatu after Barisan, the incumbent federal government in 2018, lost nationally.

Sabah Bersatu insiders told me that the party’s leadership did not try hard enough to get Beluran.

“Kiandee is not seen as being with them [the Sabah Bersatu leadership in Kota Kinabalu] as he rarely attended Sabah Bersatu and GRS events in the state. He prefers to be with the Bersatu leadership [in Kuala Lumpur],” a Sabah Bersatu leader told me.

On Thursday night, Kiandee’s name was still missing from the GRS-Barisan lineup for the 25 seats in Sabah. The matter was so urgent that a top Bersatu leader took a private flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu to look into it.

According to several sources who attended the meeting in Kota Kinabalu, the Bersatu leader and influential Sabah powerbrokers – who were also “dropped” from the GRS-Barisan lineup in Sabah – planned to field Perikatan candidates in the 12 seats which Barisan was contesting in Sabah. Perikatan’s list of proposed candidates is a who’s who of Sabah politics.

Around 3am on Friday, the Sabah Bersatu leadership called the Bersatu leadership in Kuala Lumpur. They threatened to pull out the Sabah chapter from Bersatu if the national leadership went ahead to langgar Barisan in Sabah via Perikatan.

So on the eve of nomination day, Sabah politics was heading for a crisis: there was a possibility that the state assembly would be dissolved. That could play into the hands of powerful Sabah politicians who are not assemblymen as they were left out of in the 2020 state elections. (Sabah joins Kedah, Kelantan, Penang, Negri Sembilan, Sarawak, Selangor and Terengganu in not dissolving its state assembly.)

Fearing MAD (mutual assured destruction) between GRS and Barisan – where Barisan too would field candidates against GRS in Sabah – Bersatu’s national leadership decided not to issue a watikah (letter of appointment) to potential Perikatan candidates – except Kiandee. A MAD situation between GRS and Barisan would have split the votes and allowed the Opposition Parti Warisan to get GRS and Barisan’s “sure win” seats.

Will the Kiandee candidacy be a thorn in the side of the GRS-Barisan electoral pact? Or specifically for Barisan? Or is it an internal Bersatu problem?

Will Barisan disassociate itself from Ewon for contesting under a PBRS logo? Will Bersatu ditch Barisan for the Ranau betrayal?

How hot will the Tenom fight be, as Anthony is not on the nomination list? Will his disqualification benefit independent candidate Riduan Rubin, the son of Datuk Rubin Balang? The father won as an independent in Kemabong, one of the two state seats in Tenom, in the 2020 Sabah polls.

My biggest question about my state’s politics is whether there will be a snap Sabah state poll after GE15.

In the politics of the Wild Wild East, anything can happen. In the shadow, powerbrokers want to realign state politics with their self-interest. They failed in the wee hours of Friday morning. They’ll try again.