KOTA KINABALU, Oct 15 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s visit to three districts in Sabah over the weekend is poised to further strengthen the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the state ahead of the next general election.
A political analyst said the prime minister’s assertion in Penampang on Saturday that the federal government never seized Sabah’s rights has somewhat diluted the opposition’s trump card of playing up or harping on that issue to win the hearts and minds of the people.
In what is seen as a plus point for the BN, Najib (picture) had aptly assured the local people during a walkabout in Kundasang town that the federal government had big plans for Sabah “if the BN is given the mandate once again”.
As a prelude to this, Najib, the architect of the 1 Malaysia concept, announced on his visit to Kudat yesterday that he agreed in principle to build a coastal road linking Tuaran, Kota Marudu and Kudat as well as the setting up of a Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) centre in Kudat in the northern part of Sabah.
Political analyst Salman Nurillah sees the prime minister’s visit to Sabah as a timely boost for the BN as it sought to reassert its dominance following the recent departure of several state BN leaders to the opposition camp.
Although Sabah BN might face a strong challenge from the opposition in the urban and suburban areas, he predicted that Sabah would remain a stronghold of the BN, helmed by Najib and, at the state level, by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.
In the previous election in 2008, Sabah BN almost made a clean sweep of all the 25 parliamentary and 60 state seats. The only seats that fell to the opposition, namely the DAP, were the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary and Sri Tanjung (Tawau) state seats.
Salman, a former civil servant with a law degree from Universiti Malaya and a Master’s degree from UiTM, said the big turnout for the prime minister’s programmes in Penampang, Kundasang and Kudat “where thousands of people were so eager to see him face to face and listen to his speech, actually sent a strong signal or message to the opposition, especially local parties like STAR and SAPP, that the people still have trust and confidence in the BN to deliver”.
“While the local parties are trying to show that they are fighting for the rights of Sabah, the big plan for Sabah for the year 2013, with a huge allocation, was actually complementing the struggle and showing that our PM really cares for the welfare of the people of Sabah,” he said.
Salman said: “While I don’t deny that we are left behind in certain parts of physical development, the allocation of RM2.98 billion for 2013 shows that our PM means business as far as the further development of Sabah is concerned, particularly in the north of Sabah.”
He also cited several programmes or projects in the north that would eventually benefit the people of Sabah as a whole.
Salman said these included the 1 Malaysia People’s Housing Programme (PRIMA), a fish-rearing project by Ko-Nelayan which has identified 400 hectares of land in Kudat and was expected to produce 28,000 tonnes of fish with good prices in China and Hong Kong, and an agro-based project with 3,600 hectares of land for rubber estates in Bengkoka.
Other government programmes are standardising the prices of essential goods in Sabah with a RM386-million allocation in the 2013 budget, expansion of the 1 Malaysia Clinic concept for the people of Sabah and the 1 Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) to benefit nearly 500,000 middle- and low-income people.
Construction of a new Community College and upgrading the Teaching College in Tuaran, improving water supply, which is one of the basic needs for Sabahans that still needs proper attention from the federal government, and improvement of water and electricity supply and housing for the people, he added.
Salman believed that these programmes or projects would help strengthen the people’s support towards the BN, thus spearheading the country to achieving developed nation status by the year 2020.
“In fact, a senior citizen in Kundasang (as reported in newspapers) prayed and wished that our beloved prime minister will have a long life so that he would be able to lead us for many more years to come,” said Salman, adding that Najib’s 1 Malaysia concept of “People First, Performance Now” was bearing fruit and was well-liked by the people. — Bernama
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