The goal in the end is not to win elections. The goal is to change society.
– Paul Krugman, American economist
By about 9pm on Saturday night, most of us could sense it was all over for Warisan Plus.
At that time, Sabah’s ruling coalition garnered only 19 seats while the PN/BN/PBS grouping had surged ahead with 33 seats.
At exactly 8.50pm, I sent this text message to friends who were following and sharing the election results with me: “Game over for Warisan. Upko did not deliver the KDM seats”.
By 9.20pm, I shared these thoughts with my NGO fellows in the Movement for Change, Sarawak (MoCS):
“$$$ Money — That’s the main reason why Warisan lost tonight. If you don’t have deep pockets yourself or are the stingy, miserly type, don’t contest in the elections. You will never make it.
“The other alternative — sell your behind, be a frog. Then, you will be cursed for life.
“I can’t help but laugh inside at the many aspiring candidates lining up for the coming Sarawak elections.
“Their dream of becoming YBs will be dashed on a night like tonight. They will be licking their wounds, not knowing what hit them.
“I’m not sorry at sneering early at the many mosquito parties in Sarawak who had declared they will contest in all 82 seats.
“I say, take lessons from Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) which ended up with zero tonight, even when led by a notable figure bearing the Aman name.
“Come PRN12, rural Sarawakians will have no choice but to pledge their support to candidates, able to help them with immediate cash of RM2k-5k per household, like in Sabah.
“I will be more respectful by not using the term — “selling their votes”. If that is not, what is?
“Our less fortunate brethren will be at the mercy of those in power. Warisan lost the Bumi/KDM votes because of their needs. They have suffered for too long. Many Sarawakians are in the same boat.
“As for the Chinese in the urban areas, they don’t care. They will vote for the DAP. This is clear when the party won all the six Chinese-majority seats they contested.
“By the way, we don’t need PKR’s Christina Liew to contest in Api Api in order to secure victory. Even if a tadpole is fielded under the Warisan/DAP banner in this central constituency in Kota Kinabalu, victory is assured. We can expect such a trend to continue for a long time to come.
“Elections could produce surprising and unexpected results at times but politics remains the same. It does not change but only keep evolving.
“That is why I do not encourage too much discussions about politics and elections in this group. It will have the same ending. We are going round in circles. Folks, nothing will change in Sarawak after PRN12.
“We just continue to do our bit to help out the needy in our midst. That should help keep our sanity.
“The Sabah elections are over, folks. Let’s move on, think and act on something more worthwhile and fruitful”.
Over the next 48 hours (Sunday and Monday), I was not surprised at the many ‘hoping against hope’ messages that Warisan could still form the government entering my inbox.
All kinds of unbelievable, concocted tales of crossovers and that all is not lost yet for Warisan came alive on social media. Understandably, these came from Warisan die-hards who could not accept defeat.
To this one which came in Monday afternoon, “Update: 27/9/2020. Warisan 45, 13 sign SD in support of Warisan: PBS 7; PKR 2; IND 3; Upko 1. Total 32+13=45”, I did have a good laugh. When will we stop circulating such nonsense?
In response to the above and other similar messages, I wrote this final message to end my discussion on the Sabah elections at 3.02pm on Monday: “Don’t think this will happen. Neither is it right. Much as we don’t like it, GRS contested as a coalition. It won. Warisan lost. All must accept it, even grudgingly. Sabahans have spoken. Respect their decision. Let’s move on”.
My hope is that we will see less of the degrading and filthy katak culture from now onwards. Let there be no back-door coup to topple the duly elected Sabah government for a long time to come.
Meantime, Sabahans should give Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor a chance to prove himself as the new chief minister. He is, after all, a Sabahan too.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
- Francis Paul Siah is the author of ‘Hijack in Malaysia: The Fall of Pakatan Harapan’ which was recently launched. Contact him at sirsiah@gmail.com. The book retails at RM40 (Sarawak) and RM42 (West Malaysia).
