I HAD a morbid thought on a recent flight from my hometown Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur. If anything happened during the two hours and 30 minutes journey across the South China Sea, one-third of the Sabah cabinet, a handful of (incumbent and former) assemblymen and MPs and a journalist (me) would perish.
It was politically surreal to board a flight filled with politicians from almost all the political divides in Sabah. It was a Saturday, and most on the flight were heading for the maiden unity government national convention at Umno’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur the following day.
All the parties/coalitions in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Federal Government attended the convention to show their commitment to the unity government. The Anwar-led government has a two-thirds majority – to be exact, it has 148 out of 222 seats.
The Federal Government is backed by Pakatan Harapan (81 MPs), Barisan Nasional (30 MPs), Gabungan Parti Sarawak (or GPS, with 23 MPs), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (six), Parti Warisan (three), independents (two), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (one), Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (one) and Muda (one).
“Hello YB!” I said to a Pakatan Harapan assemblyman at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)
“I’m going for the unity government convention,” he replied.
“You mean disunity government,” I said, and the Sabahan politician smiled.
Earlier, at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport, I was chatting with GRS politicians as we waited to board our flight. A Warisan politician, a former MP, passed by and greeted us.
“Where is he going?” I asked a GRS politician.
“He is going to the convention, which we are going to tomorrow,” he replied.
“Huh?” I said.
It can be somewhat confusing, even for a political junkie like me. Warisan is the Opposition in Sabah but is on the same side in the Federal Government as GRS, the backbone of the Sabah government. It is the same with Umno and Parti KDM – enemies with GRS in Sabah but friends with it at the Federal level.
The GRS politician told me that Warisan and Umno have been pressuring GRS to give government allocation to its assemblymen. But the Sabah government thinks: “Why must they provide funds for 1) parties which recently tried to oust us. and 2) parties they will face in a state election which could be called in 12 to 18 months.
In January this year, Warisan, Umno and Parti KDM tried to oust GRS chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor as Sabah chief minister. Umno pulled out from the Sabah government, thinking it could force its collapse.
The gamble failed. Sabah Umno chief lost his Deputy Sabah Chief Minister post, and several party assemblymen joined GRS. Pakatan Harapan replaced Umno in the Sabah government. Disillusioned Warisan assemblymen, who thought their president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, would become CM again, quit the party to join GRS.
In the Sabah political context, Anwar’s unity government is a frenemy government. (Frenemy means “a person with whom one is friendly despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry.)
The talk among the political circles in my state is in the Sabah polls (the state government term ends in December 2025); there will be four significant political groupings: 1. Umno (Barisan) will have a pact with Warisan (its former enemy); 2. GRS (consisting of Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah, Parti Bersatu Sabah, Sabah Star, SAPP, Usno, LDP and PHRS); 3. Pakatan Harapan and 4. Perikatan Nasional.
But politics in Sabah, like at the Federal level, is as fluid as the South China Sea. Pakatan might combine with Umno (as PKR president Anwar and Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi are political buddies), or Pakatan can link up with GRS. GRS can go back with Perikatan.
It all depends on what happens in Federal politics. Sabah politicians are observing the political manoeuvres in national politics.
If Anwar’s government falls, the Sabah state government, too, might change. It comprises GRS (with Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji as chairman) and Pakatan (DAP, PKR and Upko).
Pakatan might or might not have to leave the state government. Warisan and Umno might or might not be part of the Sabah government. Perikatan and GRS might or might not be back in the same coalition.
Anything goes if the frenemy government collapses.
The headlines appearing in news portals during the unity government national convention gave the impression of unity. Here are samples of the headlines:
> Unity govt national convention proof of govt’s stability, strength, says PM Anwar.
> (Pakatan secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution) says convention proves govt is solid, stable, functional.
> Govt parties vow not to entertain sabotage attempts: Anwar.
In politics, what you see and hear, is not what is really happening on the ground.
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