KOTA KINABALU: Eyebrows were raised at the close of nominations for the Sabah polls yesterday when it turned out that allied parties will fight one another in 17 contests.
PBS is involved in most of these contests. In some fights it will face STAR, its Perikatan Nasional ally. In others, it will fight the Barisan Nasional parties of Umno, PBRS or MCA. All of these parties are supposed to be allies under Gabungan Rakyat Sabah, a coalition recently announced by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Prior to nomination day, PBS announced it would contest for only 15 seats. Of these fights, eight would be against BN. It would contest against Umno in Bengkoka, Tanjung Aru and Telupid, against PBRS in Matunggong, Tandek and Kadamaian and against MCA in Kapayan and Karamunting.
However, the party has driven the wedge between opposition parties deeper by also fielding candidates in the predominantly Kadazan-Dusun-Murut constituencies of Moyog, Paginatan, Tambunan, Bingkor, Liawan and Tulid and the Muslim-majority Lumadan.
All these additional contests have either Umno, PBRS or STAR in the fray.
In Paginatan and Tulid, there will be fights between PBS, PN and BN as well as other parties and independent candidates.
Notably, there are no clashes between Umno and PPBM.
PBS deputy president Radin Malleh yesterday issued a statement saying the party had tried its best to avoid collisions with other parties in the opposition but had not been shown the same courtesy.
Observers say these multi-pronged fights represent a major setback to the opposition’s bid to topple the Warisan Plus ruling coalition.
Many of the candidates are not well known, even to the Sabahan public.
But there are some interesting fights on the cards.
One of these is the contest in Moyog, where Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking is making his first foray into a state election. He will fight six other candidates.
Moyog lies within the Penampang parliamentary constituency, which is known for its volatility when it comes to changing its elected representative.
Another interesting contest will be in Inanam, which has 10 candidates in the fray, making it the second most crowded contest in the polls. Only the Bengkoka contest is more crowded, with its 11 candidates.
In Inanam, former chief minister Chong Kah Kiat is hoping to make a political comeback by beating, among others, PBS Supreme Council member William Majimbon, PKR’s Peto Galim and incumbent Kenny Chua, who is defending the seat as an independent.
Sabah PKR chief Christina Liew will face off against PBS deputy president Yee Moh Chai and seven others to defend her Api-Api seat.
In Kiulu, PBS information chief Joniston Bangkuai will fight an old BN friend, Upko president Wilfred Madius Tangau.
There was bad blood between PBS and Upko, a former BN component party, when the latter defected to support Warisan president Shafie Apdal after the May 2018 election.
In Usukan, former chief minister Salleh Said is trying to make a comeback of sorts after losing his parliament seat in the last general election. He was the MP for Kota Belud, within which Usukan lies.
Standing as a direct BN candidate, Salleh will face off against rivals from Warisan and Parti Cinta Sabah.
Another interesting contest to watch is in Tambunan. STAR president Jeffrey Kitingan is defending the seat against five other candidates.
Click here for the latest on the Sabah polls
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