KOTA KINABALU: Sabah DAP publicity chief Dr Edwin Bosi said the outcome of the Batu Sapi parliamentary by-election has shown that the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is more capable of challenging the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general election.
He said the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), one of partners in the opposition coalition, had proven to be more acceptable to the people than the Sabah-based Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP).
With strong support from the DAP, PKR candidate Hj Ansari Abdullah obtained more votes than SAPP president Datuk Yong Teck Lee. The by-election was won by the BN represented by Datin Linda Tsen of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).
According to Dr Edwin, PR has proven its mettle to be the more credible party in a two-horse race against BN in the 13th general election.
He said the concept of a two-party system in Malaysia had taken root after the general election in March 2008, adding that the Batu Sapi by-election was a “do-or-die” battle between PKR and SAPP.
“It is all about which opposition party could garner more votes to claim the legitimacy to compete and contest against BN in the 13th general election,” he said.
“The by-election result showed that PKR is more acceptable than SAPP.”
However despite the PR having put a Muslim candidate in that by-election, they had failed to attract the 60% Muslim voters of Batu Sapi.
He urged all the component parties in PR to work hard to engage with the Muslim voters, especially in preparation for the 13th general election.”
As far as the Sabah DAP was concerned, Dr Edwin said that the Batu Sapi by-election had taught the party the virtues of cooperation and level-mindedness among the members and leaders of PAS, PKR and DAP.
“We know that genuine Sabahans have had enough of Umnoand BN in Sabah. The ‘new Bumiputra’ will remain to be the fixed deposit of Umno and BN in Sabah and they are the ones keeping the party in power,” he said, adding that to win the next general election, the PR partners must be united so that the people would have more confidence in the coalition.