KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has cautioned over a potential reverse takeover of Sabah by Malayan parties using defectors from Umno, after the general election.
Cautioning this, SAPP vice president Melanie Chia said such a fear was now a reality when Pakatan Rakyat (PR) recently unveiled that it could not win Sabah in the coming general election.
Ironically, this came almost immediately after its de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced last week that Pakatan Rakyat would “go it alone” in contesting all state and parliamentary seats in Sabah and Labuan.
The game plan of Pakatan is to pave the way for Umno assemblymen to defect to PAS or PKR after the general election, if Pakatan captures Putrajaya so that a reverse takeover of the Sabah state government and its resources can be completed.
However, to achieve this reverse takeover, it has become apparent that the tactic of Pakatan is to make sure that autonomous, self-reliant and fearless local parties like SAPP must not be allowed to win. After all, SAPP has proven itself as capable of fighting as an opposition party at both state and federal levels,?said Melanie who is also the two-term representative for Luyang.
When met at a popular Chinese restaurant here yesterday, she claimed that suspicion of this “reverse takeover strategy” became clearer and tangible when Anwar last week announced that Pakatan Rakyat would “go it alone” in contesting all state and parliamentary seats in Sabah and Labuan.
Earlier, we (SAPP) had given way to Pakatan in Labuan and most parliamentary seats in Sabah.
“But, it seems that Pakatan will force a three-corner fight with BN so as to lessen the chances of a SAPP victory,” lamented Melanie who is popularly tipped to defend her Luyang seat.
She is also well-known for her distinction of being the one and only member of the cabinet in Malaysia who instantly resigned from her post when her party left the ruling BN coalition, in stark contrast to those who resorted to all sorts of excuses to cling on to government posts.
Melanie also noted that SAPP president Datuk Yong Teck Lee would reveal, for the first time, at its ceramah in Taman Foh Sang here today on what had transpired between him and Anwar during their first series of meetings over three days in Hong Kong in May 2008, and later at KL One World Hotel, specifically in relation to SAPP and the then new alliance known as Pakatan Rakyat.
This is in response to wild allegations by DAP rumour mongers about SAPP’s reluctance to join the unregistered Pakatan Rakyat,?she explained.
Datuk Yong will also talk publicly about his final meeting on Sabah issues with the then Prime Minister Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, at the Prime Minister’s Kuala Lumpur residence near Parliament House in the same month.
“Patriotic Sabahans who want to regain Sabah from KL control and exploitation are welcome to this insightful gathering today, stating at 8pm,” added Melanie who is also the chairperson of the SAPP Luyang constituency liaison committee.
Before leaving, she also distributed some pamphlets and invitations to the said talk to the reporters.