Page 116 - Towards_a_New_Malaysia_The_2018_Election_and_Its_6146371_(z-lib.org)

Politics of Reform and the Triumph of Pakatan Harapan 101

technocrats in the party. A so-called ‘National Consensus’, or political deal
between Hadi and Najib, was apparently known to insiders but did not seem
to percolate to the PAS base, which still regarded UMNO as its main rival. 17
Charts 5.11 and 5.12 show the extent of PAS victories measured by vote-
share, as well as the minimal impact of PH’s Amanah candidates.

Rise of Warisan in Sabah

e emergence and meteoric success of Parti Warisan Sabah, or Sabah Heritage
Party, probably deserves a study of its own. However, this section will su ce
to show the importance of its rise in terms of Sabah’s complex multiparty
electoral politics. Since I o er no analysis here of Sarawak, which had only
a parliamentary contest in 2018, this brief Sabah analysis will illustrate the
uniqueness and special circumstances of East Malaysia in electoral politics.
Warisan was founded on 17 October 2016 by former UMNO Vice President
Sha e Apdal and former PKR politician Ignatius Darell Leiking. e UMNO
crisis brought about by the 1MDB scandal saw the sacking of Sha e Apdal
from the party and thus a major weakening of UMNO Sabah. PH leaders
were able to cobble together an electoral pact with Warisan on the eve of
GE14, ultimately contributing an additional eight members to PH’s majority
in Parliament. For Warisan, the pact with PH allowed it to ride on national
issues such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the 1MDB scandal
although, without a doubt, local issues such as Chief Minister Musa Aman’s
poor leadership were more crucial in drawing people away from BN.
Warisan’s rise was predicated on the long-standing disa ection of the
Borneo states with the federal government on matters of states’ rights and
autonomy. In Sabah’s case, the ‘20 points’ agreement Sabah inked with
the central government when it joined Malaysia in 1963 remained as an
18
undercurrent of politics (Loh 2005; Chin 2018). As in Sarawak, federal–
state relations were necessarily anchored on a relationship that allowed for
a high degree of autonomy and control by the state governments. UMNO’s
presence and domination as a proxy federal party in Sabah led to seething
resentment against the central government, but Sabahans, divided by their
ethnic diversity, tolerated federal dominance, regardless. e sacking of
Sabahan leader Sha e Apdal by Najib Razak was the spark that reignited
sentiments of Sabah ‘nationalism’ that impacted greatly on GE14. Coupled
with concerns felt across a variety of regional indigenous groups too complex
to explicate here, the time seemed ripe for an overturn of BN control in the
state. I would consider the Sabah development as yet another critical break

This content downloaded from 139.80.253.0 on Fri, 06 Nov 2020 04:22:05 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms