Ceramah Anwar Ibrahim di Batu Sapi

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PKR’s Ansari Abdullah prefers to ignore Barisan Nasional taunts of him being a “recycled” candidate, instead he maintains that “God and the people” will decide the by-election winner here. The PKR Tuaran division chief pointed out this afternoon that his focus was not on the fact that he had lost in several elections before but on winning the present one. “I never count how many times I contested before. To me, whether I win or not is not for the BN or the SAPP (Sabah Progressive Party) to decide; it is for God and the people,” he told reporters after his candidacy for the race was confirmed this morning.

BN deputy chairman and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had called Ansari a “recycled” candidate this afternoon as the latter had failed in several election bids. In Elections 2008, Ansari had contested in the Tuaran parliamentary seat and the Sulaman state seat but lost in both areas. He was also said to have contested in numerous other elections but had never been successful. Reports even said that when Ansari, known to be a loyalist to PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, was announced as a candidate at the Hakka Association Community Hall near here on the weekend, a number of PKR members left in protest. Instead of Ansari, they had wanted Sabah PKR chief Ahmad Thamrin Jaini to lead the contest in Batu Sapi.

Today however, Ansari quelled all questions on his eligibility in the polls and pointed out that it was “people power” that would ultimately determine the victor in this by-election. This, he added, was proven in the last general election. “BN can lose five states plus the Federal Territories. There is no reason why they cannot lose in Batu Sapi when the have lost in Sibu,” he said. The people, he added, were stronger than the BN. Pakatan Rakyat’s DAP achieved a shocking victory during the Sibu by-election this year when its candidate Wong Ho Leng defeated BN’s Robert Lau Hui Yew of the Sarawak-based party Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) during the contest.

Despite the slim 398-vote majority victory, the loss had dealt a severe blow to BN, who had held the seat for the past five terms in the 1990, 1995, 1999, 2004 and the 2008 general elections. Ansari also would not be discouraged by talk that Sabah folk had little regard for PKR’s political antics on the national arena, claiming that the opposition PR pact had done well in the last general election. “I hope we will be given a chance to win. Whether by one vote or 10,000, it is still a victory and that victory is not mine but the people’s and PR’s,” he declared. Ansari also pointed to the BN government’s failure in developing Sabah, claiming that he had been shocked to discover the poor living conditions in Sandakan, north of Batu Sapi here.

“I have been working 20 hours a day for the past one week. I have been to Sandakan so many times and little did I realise that when I went in, that what we see from the outside near the road is only the tip of the iceberg,” he said. He described the living conditions to be “as bad as that of Jakarta’s and Manila”. “Just go to the villages and see the amount of filth, the lack of hygiene, lack of water and electricity. The people do not seem to be living in a country that has been independent now for decades,” he said. Ansari has two contenders in the fight for the Batu Sapi state seat, which fell vacant following the death of MP Datuk Edmund Chong Ket Wah in a biking tragedy.

The long-serving PKR politician will be facing Chong’s widow, Datin Linda Tsen Thau Lin of BN’s Sabah-based party Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and former chief minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee of the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), a former BN partner here. Batu Sapi has 25,582 voters, including 1,535 postal voters.The constituency near Sandakan comprises 59 per cent of 15,099 Muslim Bumiputera; 38 per cent of 9,737 Chinese; 2.69 per cent of 698 non-Muslim Bumiputera; and 0.22 per cent or 57 others. Chong had won the seat with a 3,708-vote majority over independent Chung On Wing in Elections 2008.