KOTA KINABALU: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) vice president, Datuk Chin Shu Ying, has proposed for Chinese opposition politicians in Sabah to unite under a single party in order to strengthen the political power of the Chinese.
Chin said the disastrous defeat of Chinese political parties in Barisan Nasional (BN) was a turning point for the parties.
He suggested that peninsular-based MCA and Gerakan dissolve their Sabah branches to join LDP, besides welcoming Chinese politicians in Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) who share the same aspirations into the party.
LDP and PBS have announced their departure from BN after the 14th General Election (GE14).
Chin said the election results had clearly shown that Chinese candidates of BN component parties were rejected by the people.
On the bright side, he said, Chinese opposition leaders and members in Sabah should be united under the same platform to effectively carry out their role as check and balance on the government.
According to him, many MCA and Gerakan leaders have expressed their wish to move towards this goal. Chin also believed that SAPP is finding it hard to sustain after having suffered from total defeat twice in the general elections.
“I believe many SAPP members are thinking of their next step. If there is nothing to unite them and LDP is not there to take care of the Chinese, the Chinese people will have nowhere to go to,” Chin said.
His proposal, Chin said, included Chinese politicians in PBS who shared the same political ideology, and added that some Chinese politicians have approached LDP to discuss this matter.
As to who will lead the pack, he said, LDP would offer the party as a platform, given that it was the sole Chinese local party in Sabah.
He said, Chinese political parties needed to be well-prepared to offer voters a better choice if the Democratic Action Party (DAP) could not deliver on its promises.
On the chances of realizing his proposal, Chin said, the rate of success was close to zero when there were a lot of interests involved in the past.
“Now that everything is lost, I think the chances of success is quite high,” Chin said optimistically.
Although the other Chinese parties might not dissolve, he said, the younger generation should reconsider on the choice of their platform as they moved forward.
“Do they want to move on as a united, powerful force or otherwise?” he asked.
He said the Chinese made up around 18 percent of the total population in Sabah, and less than one percent join politics.
“The political power of the Chinese is very weak. We cannot afford to remain disunited,” Chin said.