PCS deputy secretary-general Denis Gimpah threw his support behind Warisan secretary-general Loretto Padua’s call for an end to race-based politics but cautioned a pact between local parties to represent the various communities in the state might still be the best option for now.
“Padua’s call is actually not very far from the truth. It is for that reason that PCS is registered as a multi-racial based political party.
“However, in reality and in the current scenario where voters tend to vote along racial lines, the idea of one-party-for-all-races cannot yet be realised in multi-racial and multi-cultural Malaysia,” he said.
“A coalition of various political parties representing the various group of communities is still the best option if we want to get rid of Umno’s dominance in Sabah and achieve total regime change.”
Padua had contended that Sabah’s Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) community is ready to forgo the idea of representation by race upheld by Sabah BN all these years through its KDM-based component parties.
He was responding to Parti Anak Negeri Sabah (PAN) president Henrynus Amin who called for opposition KDM political leaders to form a pact to influence major policy decisions in the future by focusing on the 22 KDM-dominated state seats in Sabah.
Gimpah said past Sabah governments under Berjaya and PBS had actually branded themselves as multi-racial outfits and even attempted a similar model of one-party-for-all.
However, Gimpah claimed both had failed because they never had the backing from the entire Sabah people.
“Berjaya and PBS cannot be made the bench mark for a successful multi-racial party as both parties won with the support of only two of the three major communities in Sabah.
“While PBS is still trying to reflect itself as a multi-racial party, it is still considered as a Kadazan-based party as the Chinese support has dwindled in recent years. As for Berjaya, history has shown us what happened to this party and where its former leaders are,” he said.
He added that while Berjaya and PBS were heading towards a one-party-for-all-races scenario at the height of their power, Umno entered the fray and Sabahans were then split into various political parties in a divide-and-rule tactic.
This, Gimpah said, is how the Malay-based party came into power in Sabah.
Gimpah believes the only way for a multi-racial party to succeed and be accepted by the people is if its leaders had sincerity as their core value.
“Video clips of leaders of a political party with fiery speeches calling for the end of the political era of one community from the western side of Sabah and the beginning of an era by another community from the eastern side are being widely-shared.
“And yet at the same time, other leaders in the same party are riding on a different political wavelength. So, where is the consistency?” he asked.
“The bottom line is no matter how a political party is being portrayed, it is only as good as its leader. At the end of the day, when polling day comes, with the exception of a few, the majority of the voters will vote along racial lines.”