Result crucial for re-mapping strategies

SANDAKAN: The outcome of the Batu Sapi by-election could see the Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Rakyat and Sabah Progressive Party re-mapping their strategies for the 13th general election.

If Barisan wins convincingly with a majority better than the 3,708 votes it garnered in the 2008 elections, the state coalition can easily say that they are on track to keep Sabah as a Barisan fixed deposit.

Anything less or a defeat could result in a readjusting of the approach the Sabah Barisan parties have taken to date, so as to stop the March 2008 polls tsunami from reaching the shores of the state, said political observers.

Similarly, they said the stakes were also high for Pakatan’s PKR and DAP and the home-grown SAPP which had intended to iron out a Pakatan-Plus formula whereby a one-to-one battle would be seen in the 25 parliament and 60 state seats in the next elections.

A loss here could dampen Pakatan’s stunning upset gained in the Sibu by-election in May and the direction the Opposition is setting for a takeover of Sarawak and Sabah, they added.
Universiti Malaysia Sabah head of International Relations Programmes Prof Zaini Othman contended that the by-election results would have significant implications for national politics.

Barisan needed to ensure that their “fixed deposit” label (for Sabah) remains undisputed and for this they needed to secure a bigger majority, may be even bigger than the 3,708 majority (in 2008),” said Zaini.

Even a reduced majority could be read as a moral defeat, said the professor who had been watching the political dynamics and social behaviour in Batu Sapi.

He said that Pakatan, particularly PKR, badly needed a victory to boost their dream march to Putrajaya following gains made during 13 by-elections in 2008.

Zaini said that results for SAPP would tell whether the party could stand on its own to capture the state in the next polls or whether it would need to shift from its non-aligned position to either Pakatan or Barisan.

(Source : theStar Online, 4 Nov 20100