West Malaysian politics toying with Sabah

It’s common knowledge that Shafie dreams of becoming Sabah’s next chief minister and that Lajim who holds sway over westcoast Muslim in Sabah is an important ally for him. Rumours of Lajim quitting Umno began last year and was as quickly “settled” when another speculation broke that Shafie, who is Rural Development Minister, had appeased Lajim with a RM150 million road project.  

WIKISABAH

It’s finally arrived, the official announcement that Sabah Barisan Nasional MPs Lajim Ukin and Wilfred Bumburing have quit the coalition.

Lajim, who announced his withdrawal in front of 500 people at Kampung Bukit Kallam on July 18, said: “I will sacrifice my RM20,000 monthly pay and perks as a minister for my struggle to uphold Sabah’s rights and fight corruption and cronyism.”

Bumburing, meanwhile, said last night he had sent in his resignation letter to BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman.

Both had earlier professed that they would remain “independent”, BN-friendly and likely to contest in the 13th general election.

But rumours are rife that Lajim may join PKR because de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has allegedly promised him that if he helps PKR win most state seats and Pakatan Rakyat wins in Sabah, then Lajim will be chief minister. Lajim has been eyeing the post since 1994.

However, this is a rather sceptical scenario for Lajim is said to be Sabah “most famous” frog and will go only where the guarantees are water-tight. He (and Bumburing) were on that “infamous team” who were supposed to join Anwar in 2008 but did not.

With a looming 13th general election and speculations of it “happening anytime now”, Sabah is quite frankly a powder-keg with both Anwar and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak pushing their political cart shopping for spineless MPs. Frankly, you get the impression that everyone’s sharing a room, if not a bed and the political lines merely illusory.

Both Lajim and Bumburing, meanwhile, are also holding separate “functions” on July 29, during which they will announce their pullouts from their respective parties – Bumburing from Upko and Lajim from Umno.

Interestingly enough, Anwar is also scheduled to be in Sabah next Sunday and tipped to attend Bumburing’s launch of a new political vehicle Sabah Reform Movement and Lajim’s Buka Puasa event.

What this will be is an irritation to Borneo Agenda campaigner Jefrey Kitingan, who has been trying to find a middle road with PKR vis-à-vis Pakatan in Sabah with the hope of achieving a consolidated opposition fight against BN.

But this isn’t likely to happen with Anwar having no interest in Sabah per se except to shop for MPs who are prepared to jump over to his side for money and position.

A source close to Jeffrey told FMT that Anwar wanted Jeffrey’s STAR to sort out and come to a compromise on the seats issues with Lajim and Bumburing.

“But Jeffrey flatly refused. He is not going to go with Anwar’s strategy.

“Jeffrey is crystal clear about STAR’s direction and will not compromise on his Borneo Agenda,” said the source.

Anifah close to Najib

Meanwhile, online blog, Malaysia Today, confirmed Kitingan’s angst.

The report by Raja Petra Kamarudin noted that Jeffrey is “quite upset” that Anwar is negotiating with BN leaders to switch camps “after the next general election”.

“This would mean the opposition would have to ‘give way’ to these people and allow them to win the election.

“The second would be: what if after they win they change their minds and decide not to jump after all because Barisan Nasional has counter-offered a higher price?

“They will only be jumping after the general election and after they have won their seats.

“[In the meantime], the opposition would have to help them win these seats, which is very risky.

“Hence [the reason why] Jeffrey is violently opposed to the idea and has told Anwar so in no uncertain terms,” wrote Raja Petra.

He also pointed out that Anwar is helbent on containing Jeffrey. And he is using Ansari Abdullah to do so.

Ansari is allegedly backed by Kimanis MP Anifah Aman, who is Chief Minister Musa Aman’s brother.

Anifah is also the federal level foreign minister and close to Najib.

Lajim factor

In this equation too we have Lajim, who Ansari and team see as a threat. It is known here that Anwar has also allegedly promised Lajim the PKR state chief seat and this is not sitting well with Ansari’s people.

This aside, Lajim is also no friend of the Amans. He is closely aligned to Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal, who’s also got Najib’s ear.

In fact, it was Lajim who, under the direction of Shafie, instigated protests and calls for Anifah to move out of Kimanis earlier this year and allow a Kimanis-born to contest in the constituency. But that fizzled out.

It’s common knowledge that Shafie dreams of becoming Sabah’s next chief minister and that Lajim who holds sway over westcoast Muslim in Sabah is an important ally for him.

Rumours of Lajim quitting Umno began last year and was as quickly “settled” when another speculation broke that Shafie, who is Rural Development Minister, had appeased Lajim with a RM150 million road project.