'People have lost confidence in race-based parties'

Kota Kinabalu: The dismal performance of the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the last general elections should not be attributed to the work of so-called cyber guerrillas but to the many government policies and antics of leaders that have infuriated voters.

The election outcome also showed that the people were no longer afraid of oppression or criticism and felt free to make their choice.

Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Youth chief, Au Kam Wah said the cyber guerillas only acted as one of the agents to disseminate these on the Internet and later shared by many via SMS and Internet.

In his policy speech in conjunction with the 13th SAPP Youth Convention at Putera Theatre Restaurant in Luyang, Saturday, he said Information Technology (IT) had resulted in many of the unpopular actions of the leaders and BN being spread through the Internet.

These included the keris-wielding that hurt the non-Malays, demolition of Hindu temples in Selangor, the "YB Palace" issue, sudden increase in price of goods and oil, etc, which had been spread through blogs.

Au who is also Elopura Assemblyman said BN lost in many states because the Government was insensitive and did not take serious action to address problems that had caused inconvenience to the people.

"The dissatisfaction was transformed into a wind of change culminating in the political tsunami on polling day," he said, adding that the results of the election was a clear message that.

Au also warned that the unusual phenomenon in Peninsular Malaysia where the Chinese and Indians handed their votes to PAS and Malays gave their votes to the DAP might hit Sabah and Sarawak if nothing is done to change the situation.

"The people no longer have confidence in racial-based parties to represent their struggle," he said, adding that in this respect, SAPP as a multi-racial-based party is relevant to the current political trend.

Au said the Government must also provide freedom to the mass media, which is the best way to counter the cyber guerrillas.

"Let the people differentiate what is good and wrong for themselves. Let all the issues and problems out in the open, then we will have the chance to make changes.

"We are confident we can produce excellent results if under pressure," he said. On claims by many that SAPP was acting like an opposition in the way their criticised the government, Au said the party was actually holding steadfastly to its political principle that is "the interest of the people is our main agenda".

Au said they were not trying to find excuses to cover up weaknesses and dented pride due to the last election results but there were those who alleged that they lost because of sabotage by a fellow component party.

"I assume all voters are given the freedom to choose whoever they want to be their wakil rakyat. We cannot blame the voters if we lost (and) we cannot blame any one if our votes went down.

"Our voters are matured enough and nobody forced them to vote for anybody especially the candidates they are not supporting," he said, adding that the act of sabotage would not cause a candidate to lose if he or she had been providing excellent service and was friendly to the people.

Hence, he said those who do not want to admit defeat should do a self-assessment and ask themselves where they went wrong.

Au said Malaysia's political landscape was changing, especially with the formation of the Pakatan Rakyat by the opposition, which he believed would eventually lead to a two-party system.

"We are ready to compete to win the hearts of the people, we are prepared to do the best for the people and get their support," he said.

Daily express