KUDAT: Barisan Nasional (BN) must uphold the principle of power sharing in the allocation of the 13 new state seats in Sabah, said Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Datuk Teo Chee Kang.
“This is to prevent larger parties from getting bigger while small parties get smaller, which then violates the concept of power sharing,” said Teo.
Apart from LDP’s existing four state and one parliamentary seats, he reiterated that LDP would seek to contest in at least two of the 13 new state constituencies located in the urban and suburban areas, if the Parliament approved the additional seats in Sabah.
Teo, who is also Minister of Special Tasks cum Tanjong Kapor Assemblyman, said there would be a new Bengkoka state seat in Kudat parliamentary constituency following the approved amendments to the Sabah constitution to increase the number of state seats from 60 to 73 during the State Legislative Assembly in August last year.
“However, the boundaries of Tanjong Kapor constituency will not be affected.
“Nonetheless, there may be more newly-formed political parties joining the fray, including Parti Warisan Sabah.”
Teo said this at the LDP Tanjong Kapor annual divisional conference officiated by Deputy President Datuk Chin Su Phin here yesterday.
Yesterday also saw the inauguration of the BN cum LDP Tanjong Kapor office and activation of the division’s election machinery in preparation for the 14th General Election (GE14).
Teo said Chin, as the LDP election director, has also been setting up the election machinery in the west coast, Sandakan, Tawau and other divisions.
He said Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), which garnered 6,905 votes in the GE13, has maintained a low profile to date.
“This leads to the possibility that PKR may be giving away this constituency to another opposition party.”
Nevertheless, Teo believed that all party comrades would be united in defending the Tanjong Kapor state seat.
“At the same time, we will fully support BN in defending the Kudat parliamentary seat.”
He said Malaysia had gone through two so-called political tsunamis during the general elections in 2008 and 2013.
During those times, he said the Pakatan Rakyat had created the impression that they could topple the government.
“As a result, many non-Muslims have been misled into casting their votes to PAS, a party that has made the implementation of hudud law as its political struggle.”
Although the Pakatan Rakyat has failed to take over Putrajaya, Teo said the former opposition coalition had not only strengthened PAS, but also caused the Chinese to be stereotyped as ‘anti-government’.
“This not only reduced Chinese representation in the government system, but also makes it much more difficult to pursue our rights.”
He said the Pakatan Harapan today is also struggling with infighting as each component party has its own agenda. The opposition coalition is unable to work as a team and thus its hope of changing the government will remain a far-fetched dream, he said.
“In the 13th General Election (GE13) in 2013, the then Pakatan Rakyat won 11 out of 60 state seats in Sabah, namely Matunggong, Kedamaian, Inanam, Likas, Tamparuli, Api-Api, Luyang, Moyog, Kapayan, Klias and Sri Tanjung.”
Despite having taken an oath promising that they would not jump ship, Teo pointed out that eight out of the 11 opposition elected representatives have either left or switched parties.
“In other words, 73 per cent of the Pakatan Rakyat state assemblymen have betrayed their oath and promise to the people.
“Pakatan Rakyat, now rebranded as Pakatan Harapan, has no credibility.
“I believe Pakatan Harapan will make promises to the people that they will not jump ship in the coming GE14.
“But I urge Sabahans to seriously consider whether to vote for Pakatan Harapan candidates.”
On another note, Teo said the party has made the overall interest of Sabahans and Malaysians as its political struggle since he took over as president of LDP in 2014.
“Today, 40 of our Rungus friends will be joining the party and establishing the 30th branch under the Tanjong Kapor division.
“This proves that LDP’s political struggle is recognized and embraced by the bumiputera community.”
Since the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak launched the National Transformation 2050 (TN50) plan last year, Teo said Malaysian youths have expressed their wish to break down racial barriers in the dialogues held nationwide.
“Our youths identify themselves as Malaysians whilst retaining their own cultural characteristics.”
Teo said LDP believed that preserving the multicultural nature of our nation was the right way forward.
“Only by doing so will the rakyat of different skin colour, cultures and religions have a sense of belonging to our country and be proud to be Malaysians.
“As such, LDP and all Malaysians must possess a more macro vision that transcends religion and embraces diversity.”
Also present were LDP Vice Presidents Datuk Lim Ming Hoo and Datuk Chin Shu Ying, Secretary General Senator Datuk Yong Wui Chung and Chief Publicity Officer Albert Kok.