KEY CAMPAIGN ISSUES
The campaign has been dominated by long-standing issues of water supply, electricity and road infrastructure.
“The government’s failure to adequately resolve these issues has become a key point of attack for opposition parties, particularly against the GRS government led by Hajiji Noor,” said Arvin Tajari, a senior lecturer from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Sabah.
Issues framed around “Sabah for Sabahans” and sentiments favouring local over national parties also featured prominently in this campaign, with some politicians calling for the state to be exclusively governed by local parties after decades of perceived neglect by the federal government.
“Sabah for Sabahans issues are really big this time. I would say it’s even bigger than back in 2020 (during the last state election),” Chin said.
The issue became even more pronounced following the recent High Court ruling affirming Sabah’s entitlement to 40 per cent of federal revenue collected from the state, Arvin told CNA.
The Kota Kinabalu High Court in October ruled that the Malaysian federal government had acted unlawfully by failing to fulfil Sabah’s right to 40 per cent of federal revenue derived from the state for nearly 50 years.
The court also ordered an agreement be reached on Sabah’s 40 per cent share of federal revenue for each financial year from 1974 to 2021, with the process to be completed within 180 days.
Lee said that the Sabah for Sabahans sentiment could affect PH and make it more “complicated” for its component parties such as the Democratic Action Party (DAP) to improve on their performance from the last election.
At a campaign event in Kota Kinabalu on Thursday, Anwar said it is the strong relationship between Sabah and the federal government that has facilitated the state’s 40 per cent revenue discussions, emphasising that the decades-old issue was only addressed by his unity government.
“As for the 40 per cent revenue return — we will implement it,” he said.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-sabah-election-polling-day-anwar-who-will-win-5495526
