By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, July 30: A political analyst believes that former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman has an advantage over incumbent Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal in the upcoming Sabah snap election.
Dr Arnold Puyok, who is Deputy Dean of Research and Commercialisation at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) explained that this is because Musa has the support of the federal government.
“If the federal government is behind Musa and his group, I think, in terms of resources and machinery, the advantage is with Musa and the group.
“In the history of Sabah, if you go against the federal government, it is not easy for you to develop Sabah economically,” Arnold told DayakDaily when contacted today.
Arnold opined that the biggest mistake Shafie made was to grant his support to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad whose popularity in Sabah has been quite “divisive”.
The Sabah state election must be called now following the royal announcement to dissolve the Sabah Legislative Assembly (DUN) by Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sabah Tun Juhar Mahiruddin today.
Musa yesterday claimed that he has a simple majority within the Sabah DUN and he would be seeking an audience with the TYT for the latter to announce his chief ministership.
However, this afternoon, Shafie announced the dissolution of the Sabah DUN and the move was supported by the TYT who also issued a formal announcement to support Shafie’s decision.
The announcement of the TYT paves the way for a snap Sabah state election.
Despite Arnold’s personal preference of not having any snap election for the state, the majority of Sabahans, however, appear to be in favour of having the snap election to resolve the state’s political impasse.
“If possible, a snap election should be avoided during this time due to economic factors.
“However, from what I saw on social media, many people want to solve the problem though an election. Many want the politicians to go back and get the mandate of the people, that is the present sentiment.
“To me, at the end of the day, all will have to go with the decision of the TYT,” said Arnold. — DayakDaily
