Disquiet in the Land Below The Wind

So will the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) opt out of BN or will it stay? If it is the case of the latter, will it join Pakatan or will it instead choose to remain independent? And more importantly will SAPP get the ball rolling for the others to follow suit?

There has been a lot talk shortly after the March 8 'political tsunami' about BN MPs defecting in numbers since Anwar Ibrahim unveiled his bold plan to take control of the Federal Government. He of course has claimed several times that he has indeed the support of 30 or so defectors who would switch camps willingly 'when the time is right' and this will happen, according to him before the 16th of September, which is the date the Malaysia that we know today was born. Presumably he plans to run for parliament by forcing a by-election sometime before the mass exodus is set to happen just so he can be on the forefront and ultimately realise his dreams of becoming the Prime Minister.

Speculation was rife that most of the defectors would be from Borneo since they delivered more seats than the Peninsula but still are getting kicked around and screwed over by the arrogant Federal Gov. Sabahan MPs did indeed voice out a lot of their concerns when parliament kicked-off but were quick to pledge their loyalty to BN. And now you get this, SAPP proposing to put forward a motion of no confidence against the PM. Under normal circumstances, I really think SAPP would have been expelled by now or at the very least been severely reprimanded for rocking the boat, as the party is relatively small and is represented by only 2 lawmakers in parliament, but no, not this time around.

Well, the PM has instead opted to wait and see. This of course is much wiser than to the usual knee-jerk response towards dissenting voices as it could lead to severe backlash from not just the general public of Sabah but more importantly the other Sabahan MPs especially at a time when Anwar's threat is looming.

This is simply because SAPP has cleverly cited several pressing issues affecting Sabah that has been ignored by the Federal Gov over the years as their reason to air their grouses. One such issue is the illegal imigrant population in Sabah, which is so large that it is affecting the livelihood of the locals. This is definitely a contentious issue back there and many Sabahans feel very let down by the inaction of the Federal Gov. Any stupid move by the PM right now might be seen as the ultimate sign of disrespect towards the state and piss many people off. And to simply get back at the Federal Gov, the Sabahan MPs might just decide to jump ship (at least that's what i think will happen lah).

So instead, PM and co are just going to wait and see if SAPP will indeed leave the coalition, and then perhaps embark on a smear campaign to discredit SAPP. But that may not entirely be necessary. As it stands, there may be disunity within SAPP. The president as alleged by the vice, has acted without consulting the rest of the supreme council members i.e. the big players. So there is still much drama left to unfold, which may just happen in about an hours time. SAPP has apparently called for a supreme council meeting which is probably ongoing at the moment to discuss among other things on whether to stay in BN or not. In just about one hour's time, a press conference is to be held and the outcome of the meeting is expected to be anounced, and then perhaps there will be answers.


UPDATE:

So the decision has been made after a very lenghty supreme council meeting, the party is united in backing the president's anti-PM stance. On the issue of quiting BN, they have been no decisions made and at the moment the only way out is to be expelled by BN itself. Smart move there by SAPP. Therefore we'll have to turn our attentions to parliament on Monday to see if the 2 MPs would try to propose the motion as promised which at the moment seems almost impossible with so many complex laws and procedures in place. Then perhaps action will taken by the BN chief whip and perhaps then things will becoming a little bit more interesting. Who knows, BN may lose 2 or even more MPs at the end of it all. At the moment though the party is going to 'turun padang' starting tomorrow to explain their decision at the grassroot level and perhaps get as much support as possible from the people of Sabah.