KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — With the Sabah election campaigning now underway, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang said today one of the objectives in the elections is to put an end to the political culture of ‘party-hopping’.
Labelling individuals and political parties who frequently switch allegiance as ‘frogs’, the Iskandar Puteri MP however said it remains to be seen if such a culture could be wiped out in its entirety from the country when the state election concludes later this month.
“It is indeed a massive free-for-all but it accentuates what should be one of the objectives of the 2020 Sabah state general election – to slay the “frogs” whether persons or parties and bring an end in Sabah and Malaysia the disgusting political culture of “frogging” and to usher in a new era of honest and conviction politics,” he said in a statement here.
Separately, he also said it was clear that neither the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government and Barisan Nasional (BN)l have an agreed candidate to be Sabah chief minister, unlike the Warisan Plus coalition who has nominated incumbent Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal.
Yesterday, Election Commission Datuk chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh said 447 candidates will take part in the two-week campaigning period that will feature 17 parties not including independents.
The election will feature a 11-cornered fight in Bengkoka, a 10-way contest in Inanam as well as three nine-man scrums.
There were also 26 seats with six contestants, 15 with five, and 13 featuring seven distinct candidates.
PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s assurances of a united Gabungan Rakyat Sabah have evaporated after allied parties were confirmed to be challenging one another in 17 seats for the state election.
The GRS is a coalition comprising PN, BN and local Sabah Opposition parties that were cobbled together to jointly challenge the ruling Warisan Plus pact.
The clashes have shown the challenging GRS coalition to be in disarray as the incumbent Warisan Plus group consisting of Parti Warisan Sabah, Pakatan Harapan, and Upko avoided going up against each other in any of the 73 seats.
Voting for the Sabah election is on September 26.
