As of today, there seems to be a discord amongst PKR members in Sabah as to who should be more entitled to contest the By-Election in Pensiangan if indeed there is going to be one in the very near future.
I am not making a mountain out of a molehill but apparently, there appears to be two camps in the making or aren’t they already in existence? Going by press statements lately, it seems it is more probable than not that there is indeed such camps and the crevice in the wall is beginning to show sign of stress. Take for example today’s press release by one Jumin Jeffrey Masuling, the PKR Tuaran Division Secretary in the Daily Express. (He is obviously a very close confidante of Ansari Abdullah, the State PKR Chief)
- Daily Express snippets dated the 11/12/2008
In a nutshell, it is not that difficult to decipher who would be the preferred personality to stand as a PKR candidate in Pensiangan if and only if the selection criteria is based largely on personal commitment to make the By-Election a reality, hypothetically speaking.
a snippet of the Daily Express "CONFUSION" ??
As a matter of fairness and good common sense, I tend to agree with Jumin Masuling. I am quite sure the man on the street would also agree with him. But it is rather unfortunate the perennial question of who should be the ultimate PKR candidate in Pensiangan has become a source of disrepute and confusion among PKR members. To me, the line should be clear for Andipai to be given back his then loss opportunity to contest in Pensiangan. He was the one who initiated the petition, went for it, fought and won it in Court. Please tell me honestly, who on earth can dispute that.
Now, would he be able to carry it through for PKR against Tan Sri Kurup, the Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development?
Danny Andipai is a local murut born and bred in Nabawan, Pensiangan. He used to work as a Pharmacist Assistant in a Government Hospital before resigning to venture into his own business. During my travel to the interior in the Pensiangan parlimentary constituentcy, I have had the honour to meet several villagers in Pegalungan. I am not being biased here but it is true. The majority of them then was not quite comfortable with Andipai. In other words, Andipai himself at that time was not that well known in this part of the contituency as compared to Tan Sri who had made every effort to visit all the villages as far as Kg. Bantul closest to the Indonesian Border in Kalimantan even before the last general election in March 2008.
That was about 2 months ago. The political situation may have changed as in politic, 1 week is considered very short when it comes to canvassing for votes. There are so many areas to cover but with very little time to spare especially when one’s opponent is playing the race card.
The Pensiangan parliament is comprised of 2 state seats namely Nabawan and Sook. Voters in the former is almost 90% murut whilst in Sook it is almost 50-50 for the Murut and Kadazandusun respectively.
As recent as 1 month ago, the rumour was that if Andipai were to be the PKR candidate, his race would be a factor against Tan Sri Kurup, a kadazandusun and not how much infrastructure development had been delivered. Now, if that were the case, Andipai would stand a chance of getting as high as 80% of the Murut votes in Nabawan and most probably, 60% of the murut votes and just about 20% of the kadazandusun votes in Sook. So, folks, on this score alone. I think the line is very clear who would win in the coming By-Election barring any unforeseen circumstances. Yes. Some of you may not agree with my analysis but I truly hope, yes honestly, that my ominous prediction is not true at all. As if like rubbing salt to an open wound, a very prominent member of the local administration did disclose to me discreetly that in fact, it would be the most likely case in Pensiangan to the extent of saying that the moment Tan Sri Kurup’s name is announced as the BN candidate, the support for BN would drop to as low as 20%.
But to me, it is not for Andipai to win the battle but for BN to lose it. The fact is, to ensure victory, all BN component parties must be sincere in working together and support each other with a common objective to hold the seat they won uncontested. However, it is my honest belief that to achieve this goal, the BN spirit of consensus must always prevail at all times.
What about PKR chances if Datuk Dr. Jeffrey were to be its candidate?
Honestly, if the voters were to play the race card and wished for a local murut to be their next MP, then the answer is very crystal clear. With all the extra baggages that Dr. Jeffrey is said to be carrying and I am quite sure you all know what I meant by “extra baggages”, he would not stand a chance against Tan Sri Kurup. It is a very simple arithmetic. Since both are kadazandusun, it is most probable than not that the Pensiangan voters would go for Tan Sri Kurup. As the saying goes when we are faced with a choice in a difficult or fearful situation there is an old cliche that decribes what we tend to do i.e. we choose “the devil we know” over “the devil we don’t know”. Yes we choose the comfort and security we have now and what other good things promised to us over the unknown future. Period.
So, that’s all folks for today and we will meet again soon over the next topic of ” Is it proper for Tan Sri to distribute assistance at this point in time after the High Court ruling?”
Cheers!
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure … We ask ourselves: “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be …? Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you… As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”–Marianne Williamson
Mtdurasim's Blog 
