Sabah predictions: Divided local wave By Bridget Welsh

Malaysiakini : COMMENT | Sabah heads to the polls tomorrow in what has been the most competitive election in her history. The main campaign sentiment has been one of “local parties” – tied into the narratives of Warisan and the Sabah First movement of Ewon Benedick.

Underscoring this are deep-seated concerns that Sabah is being left behind in Malaysia and in comparison to neighbouring Sarawak.

Tomorrow, Sabah parties/coalitions will receive the overwhelming support of voters, as Sabahans are expected to turn away from peninsula-based parties/coalitions, especially Pakatan Harapan (in particular PKR) and Perikatan Nasional.

Yet on the ground, livelihood pressures for survival and uncertainty amidst political deal-making and a swarming of candidates have contributed to support for the familiar, notably the campaign resource-rich locally branded Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS).

The “being-the-government” advantage in a context of deep-seated societal vulnerabilities has mattered, even if, as detailed below, it will not yield the outcome of a categorical reindorsement.

Salvage Malaysia : Sabah brothers and sisters, I would do these 2 elimination tests: 

1) out with peninsular based parties 

2) out with corrupted local parties Then vote for those who don’t fall into the above 2 categories. 

Then post election, the new state govt can always opt to be friendly with federal without being subservient to federal. Learn the smart play from Sarawak. Don’t make another mistake and suffer for another 5 years.

Read it all here......