By Michael Kaung - Free Malaysia TodaySANDAKAN: The Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government, fighting to prevent the opposition from making inroads into Batu Sapi, is struggling to keep voter anger in check.
In a nine-day sprint to woo a bitter electorate in this enormous constituency that sprawls over an area half the size of Johor, the BN election machinery is struggling to placate supporters who had expected wealth and job opportunities to pour in during its long regime.
The opposition candidates' steady reminders to the voters of BN's inefficiency are not making matters easier.
PKR's Ansari Abdullah and the Sabah Progressive Party's (SAPP) Yong Teck Lee have been quick to pounce on the shortcomings of the BN, portraying the ruling coalition as inefficient and corrupt.
Ansari fired a broadside at the BN by questioning what the coalition had done for the people despite having Chief Minister Musa Aman, Deputy Chief Minister Peter Pang, Federal Deputy Minister VK Liew and the late MP Edmund Chong as their elected representatives.
The by-election is widely seen as a referendum on Musa's own record as chief minister and Sabah BN chairman. A loss in Batu Sapi would be a big blow to both him and Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) leader Joseph Pairin Kitingan.
Ansari, when releasing the PKR manifesto, accused the BN of being indifferent to the people's welfare after taking power.
He said this could be seen by the alleged land grab by the BN-led state government in Kampung Perpaduan in 2002-2003.
The village was established during the era of the now-defunct BN component party, Usno. Usno led the state government from 1963 (when Sabah gained independence) to 1976.
Land grab
The BN state government ordered Kampung Perpaduan demolished in 2002 to make way for a major development project.
Ansari, the lawyer who represented the families of the 3,800 households in the village, claimed that the Sandakan Municipal Council had entered into a joint venture with a company owned by one Nasir Yeo, allegedly a nominee of Musa.
"They invited the Sultan of Brunei to invest in the project and built two hotels, including a six-star hotel. There is a lot of land in Sabah, so why do you want to take people's land?" he asked.
The Kampung Perpaduan residents have a legitimate claim to their native customary rights (NCR) land, which has been ignored by the BN government, he said.
"This is recognised by the British... the British are more concerned about NCR than the BN government," he said, adding that PKR and PAS leaders had been harassed and detained for defending the villagers' rights.
Ansari and Yong's accusations have struck a chord. The constituency is pockmarked with shabby, shantytown villages by the waterfront, some of which have been razed to pave the way for infrastructure projects.
While development projects like roadworks are welcome, they have, however, displaced the villagers, many of whom have been left without shelter. They have been forced to find a new place to put up their squatter shacks.
The poor eke out a living as fishermen and odd-job workers and earn between RM10 and RM30 a day. A sizeable number of them are from the islands that dot the coast and are about half an hour to an hour by speedboat from town.
"The fishermen are still poor and the youths who can afford to leave have left to work elsewhere like in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu," said a frequent visitor to Sandakan who asked not to be named.
"They live in filthy conditions and it's hard to imagine that the government has not done anything to improve their living standards.
"Small businessmen complain that all the projects and contracts, even the small ones, are taken by the politicians and their cronies," he said.
"They are angry with Musa and Samsuddin (Yahya), Umno’s Sekong assemblyman. All contracts go to Musa's men."
Those who can afford, mostly the Chinese, have left the town to live in the housing estates and rented out their shophouses to others.
Weekend MP
The list of grouses includes land grabs, water scarcity, poverty, growing cronyism and empty promises by BN politicians.
BN has not been helped by the fact that Chong was seen as a "weekend politician" which has put his wife Linda Tsen, the BN candidate in the Nov 4 by-election, in a difficult position on the campaign trail.
"Her husband's record (as an MP) is poor," said Lim, a shopkeeper.
"He was seen as a 'weekend MP'… listening to the people only during the weekends.
"All these (BN) politicians have been talking big... they have just been coming and making promises and promises."
Tsen herself is seen as a "reluctant candidate", according to those attending the BN ceramahs.
"She is shielded most of the time from questions by her handlers like Yee (State Resource Development and Information Technology Minister Dr Yee Moi Chai).
"She's been unimpressive and at the same time, the PBS is at a loss without any proper machinery to get its message across even if it has one. It is depending on Umno to do the work for them.
"Money will swing the votes here again," said an observer, referring to the vast sums of money that have always been allegedly used to buy votes.
"The BN people have already started distributing RM30 or so to the poor. They are poor so RM30 is a lot… it's what they can earn in a whole day.
"It's all a question of money at the end of the day… this and the 'dubious voters' will decide who win," said a political observer.
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