SAPP backs Anwar as next Malaysian PM

FMT Staff | January 10, 2012

Sabah Progressive Peoples Party and Pakatan Rakyat leadership vis-a-vis PKR have a 'good relationship' although rumours are to the contrary.

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has come out in full support for Anwar Ibrahim as its candidate for premiership should Pakatan Rakyat come to power in the next general election.

The party’s deputy president Amdee Sidik said in a statement late yesterday that SAPP viewed the ‘not guilty’ verdict handed down by the High Court as “a light at the end of a tunnel” to end the Barisan Nasional rule.

“The verdict signifies change and that not all judges can be bought and controlled by those in power,” he said adding that it comes as a relief.

“At the same time it also shows the government has shown poor judgment as this case should never been brought to High Court in the first place,” he said.

The deputy president also played up the “good relationship” between the Pakatan leadership and SAPP despite the Sabah opposition party rejecting a formal pact with the national opposition coalition that comprises PKR, DAP and PAS.

“SAPP has a good relationship with Pakatan. The top leaders as well as local leaders in Sabah have always been in constant contact. At the federal level, our two MPs have been discussing how to make this relationship effective to topple BN government in Sabah.

“I would like to make it crystal clear to dispel the accusation by some envious people of our stand that SAPP isn’t a stooge of BN.

“Anwar Ibrahim himself had made it clear sometime ago that there is no issue with SAPP being not under Pakatan’s fold as our real political enemy is BN, in particular Umno,” he said.

He disclosed that the party was currently in talks with PKR’s Azmin Ali and Tian Chua on possible seat allocations in the state to prevent a split in the opposition vote.

SAPP is asking for two-thirds of the state assembly seats and offering Pakatan one third in exchange for granting Pakatan two-thirds of the parliamentary seats.

“That is the kind of discussions that SAPP leaders are having with Pakatan,” he said.

Seats re-negotiation

However, with former PKR vice president Jeffrey Kitingan throwing his hat in the ring through the entry of his party Star last week, seat distribution among the opposition parties in the state has been turned on its head.

SAPP has also formed a loose alliance with Kitingan’s Borneo rights NGO, United Borneo Front, as well as acknowledged the entry of Star, the Sarawak based party that has spread its wings to Sabah.

The new political development in the state has led some to believe that Sabah based parties may form their own homegrown opposition coalition and divide the 60 state and 25 parliamentary constituencies among themselves leaving Pakatan out of the equation altogether.

Nevertheless, Anwar and his Pakatan colleagues will be breathing a sigh of relief that they can count on some measure of support from SAPP in the coming elections which many expect to be called this year.