SABAH Umno leaders do not believe that the Suluk voters in Sabah have deserted them following the Tanduo stand-off in Lahad Datu between Sulu terrorists and Malaysian armed forces.
“The majority of the Suluk voters are still with BN (Barisan Nasional),” said Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan, the principal political secretary to Sabah strongman, Musa Aman.
Many in the BN component parties like PBS, UPKO, LDP, PBRS and MCA share Nizam’s observation.
But deep within the Suluk community in Sabah, cracks are appearing.
If you talk to the ordinary Suluk men, the majority would still say they are “with the government”. And their leaders, in NGOs, too are issuing statements supporting the establishment.
The question now is can these Suluk supporters of BN be trusted.
Remember the Tanduo incident when the armed Sulu terrorists from the Philippines hoisted a white flag signaling a surrender or peace?
But while the white flag was hoisted, the Sulu terrorists shot dead two Malaysian armed forces.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said our men were tricked.
In which case could it be that the Suluk community is once again sending a decoy to BN, to eventually surprise them by a swing in the Suluk votes?
Not so safe now
Observers here observed that “even a small swing” in support from the community in some of the eastern coast seats could be a nightmare to some Umno candidates.
The Lahad Datu and Tungku state seats and Silam parliamentary constituency (where Tanduo is) have consistently registered a huge dissenting votes against BN in previous elections.
In the 2008 general election, the Lahad Datu state seat was won by Umno’s Nasrun Mansur in a straight fight with PKR candidate, Zainuddin Zulkarnain.
Nasrun chalked up 8,034 votes against Zainuddin’s 4,976.
Now five years later, observers note that support for the opposition had further increased.
And now with the additional likely swing in Suluk votes, it’s going to be a close fight especially if it is a one-to-one battle.
In adjacent Tungku, also under the Silam parliamentary seat, and where the Tanduo action was, the situation is similar.
Here too in 2008 the dissenting voices were strong.
Umno’s Suhaili Said won the seat for BN with a 4,828 votes but there were a substantial 2,446 votes that went to PKR’s Jamal Sulai and another 164 votes for an independent.
A slight shift in Suluk support here towards PKR could tilt the balance to a 50-50 or 45-55 situation, with Umno having only the slightest advantage.
PAS, Anwar gaining ground
Local observers said that if there is a 30% or more shift in the Suluk and Badjao communities, then BN is in for a run of its money in east coast.
But Umno has never been more strong in the east coast than now.
With financially powerful Badjao leader like Shafie Apdal from nearby Semporna, Lahad Datu and Tungku and Silam parliamentary seats could well be within BN’s so-called fixed-deposit areas.
With about RM6 billion annual development fund under his control in the federal Rural Development Ministry, Shafie is in pole position to influence the politics in Sabah’s east coast.
Shafie is an Umno vice-president and cannot afford to fail Umno in Sabah. If he falters in delivering seats to BN, then it would be the end of his political journey for him too.
However, much to the dislike of Shafie and Sabah Umno, not all Suluk groups look up to or listen to the party anymore.
They now have an alternative in PAS and the charismatic Anwar Ibrahim-led PKR.
Both are known sympathisers of the Muslim community. And there is Usco (United Suluk Community Organisation).
The youthful NGO has planned to put up election candidates against BN and Pakatan at the coming polls.
Usco and Usno
Usco president, Bentan Alamin, recently announced Usco’s intention to stand in areas that have substantial Suluk voters.
Though the Suluks are mainly found in islands and coastline, many of them have settled around cities like Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan.
They are mainly fishermen, construction labourers, petty traders, street peddlars but many also have joined other sectors including the public service.
Among the areas Usco is aiming for are Banggi and Tanjung Kapur in Kudat, Karambunai, Likas, Tanjung Aru and Sepanggar in the west coast and Sandakan.
Young Bentan said that the decision to participate in the election was made at Usco’s third annual general meeting which called for the body to put up its young leaders as election candidates as “a starting point for Usco to be in politics”.
Usno, another NGO, is led by Badaruddin, son of the most famous Suluk-Bajau leader ever, Mustapha Harun. This group is eyeing at least two seats in the east coast, most likely Bugaya and Senallang or Sulabayan.
Badaruddin is aligned to Jeffrey Kitingan of State Reform Party (STAR), another sign of the emerging importance of aligning oneself to the potentially-powerful Suluk-Bajau politics in Sabah.
There are signs that other seats in Sandakan, Lahad Datu and Tawau – where state opposition parties Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) and STAR have little clout – would be left entirely to PKR-PAS-DAP to tussle it with BN-Umno.
These tussles will be worth watching. Already the situation is beginning to unfold.
Again in this pivotal polls, the question arises: who will the Suluk community look up to as its leader? Will it be Najib or Anwar? (FMT)
Sunday, April 7, 2013
WHO WILL THE SULUKS SUPPORT?
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Ramai di antara kita masih keliru antara entik Suluk di negara ini dan orang Sulu dari selatan Filipina. Walaupun ada mengatakan mereka dari suku kaum yang sama, tetapi budaya dan pemikiran pengganas Sulu yang menceroboh itu jelas berbeza dan bertentangan dengan moral masyarakat Suluk di negeri ini.
ReplyDeleteBagi peneroka-peneroka Felda Sahabat di sini yang terdiri dari etnik Suluk, mereka kecewa kerana ramai yang beranggapan mereka juga terlibat dalam mendalangi insiden pencerobohan pengganas militan Sulu itu.
ReplyDeleteBagi Datu Datu Ibrahim Datu Abd. Karim (kiri), 55, beliau sedih kalau ada yang beranggapan sebegitu hanya kerana ‘darah’ yang mengalir dalam tubuh mereka.
"Ya mungkin keturunan moyang-moyang kita dari selatan Filipina tetapi kami semua lahir di sini, ada kad pengenalan seperti warganegara Malaysia yang lain, kami bersyukur atas nikmat tersebut dan tidak pernah terfikir langsung untuk mengiktiraf sesiapa saja dari sana, malah kami sanggup berjuang demi negara kita yang tercinta".
ReplyDelete"Jangan hanya kerana ada orang Sulu dari Filipina membuat angkara, kami hendak dikaitkan sekali, itu tidak adil buat kami".
"Kami gembira kerana kepimpinan tertinggi negara faham situasi tersebut, Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak juga mengerti jadi tidak ada sebab untuk mengaitkan kami dengan apa yang berlaku,” katanya.
Pendapatnya turut disokong seorang lagi peneroka, Nasib Osup (tengah). Menurut Nasib, kesetiaan orang Suluk di Sabah tidak perlu dipertikaikan bahkan ramai pemimpin utama kerajaan negeri dan negara juga dari etnik yang sama.
ReplyDelete"Kami perlu bersuara kerana ramai yang tidak faham apa yang sebenarnya berlaku sekarang ini, Tuhan saja yang tahu betapa takutnya kami ketika insiden ini berlaku, pekan jadi sunyi, anak-anak risau ke sekolah, semua rasa nyawa mereka terancam".
"Mungkin ada satu dua orang yang terlibat, ternyata mereka itu ada agenda sendiri yang hanya mereka saja yang tahu kenapa sanggup sampai jadi sekejam ini, membunuh dan menzalimi pegawai keselamatan kita yang tidak berdosa"
"Kami etnik Suluk tidak boleh menerima apa yang orang Sulu Filipina ini lakukan terhadap mereka dan kami semua secara keseluruhannya,” tegasnya.
ReplyDeleteBagi Mumin Abd. Lala (kanan), mereka kesal kerana pendatang Sulu itu tidak menghargai tempat di mana mereka datang berteduh dan mencari rezeki.
Kita faham hidup di sana susah, mundur…jadi bila mereka datang untuk mencari nafkah maka kita tidak banyak persoal kerana mereka juga perlu wang untuk meneruskan kehidupan.
"Malang sekali kerana ada di antara mereka yang sanggup hendak berperang dengan kita, jadi bila jadi macam ni, bukan kita saja yang susah, pendatang Sulu yang tak tahu apa-apa pun kena menanggung akibatnya,” katanya kesal.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri has appealed to the people of Sabah to give a strong mandate to the leadership of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the coming general election.
ReplyDeleteAbdul Rahim, who was the former Member of Parliament for Kudat, said the people should not be making any experiment because voting in the general election was a serious matter and had significant implication on the future of the country.
ReplyDelete“Politics in the democratic system determines the power of administration and also the policies and direction of a particular nation,” he said
ReplyDeleteAbdul Rahim said the many negative developments and mistakes occurring in the foreign countries should be used as a lesson so that they would not occur in this country.
ReplyDeleteSEORANG pemimpin masyarakat suku kaum Bajau dan Suluk di negeri ini, Datu Omar Ali Datu Bachtiyal (Gambar) kelmarin menyatakan pendiriannya secara rasmi untuk menyertai Umno Bahagian Sandakan bagi membolehkan beliau menyumbang dan berperanan lebih aktif kepada kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN).
ReplyDeleteBeliau berkata, keahliannya sebagai ahli Umno masih wujud iaitu di kawasan Lengging, Negeri Sembilan tetapi terpaksa membuat penukaran keahlian ke sini ekoran keadaan politik yang tidak menentu.
ReplyDeletekatanya, keputusan itu dibuat setelah mengkaji sedalam-dalam bahawa kerajaan hari ini di bawah pentadbiran Perdana Menteri iaitu Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak adalah kerajaan terbaik; yang wajar dikekalkan sebagai parti pemerintah dan mengambil kira bukan hanya dari segi pembangunan tetapi rakyat perlu melihat keamanan di negara ini sejak sekian lama.
ReplyDeletemasyarakat suku kaum Bajau dan Suluk perlu menyokong sekali gus menjadikan parti keramat Umno sebagai wadah perjuangan politik kerana ia sudah terbukti mampu membela nasib setiap kaum di negara ini.
ReplyDeletesemenjak lebih 50 tahun lepas pelbagai limpahan pembangunan dinikmati samada dari segi pembangunan ekonomi mahu pun pendidikan sehinggalah kepada kemakmuran yang membolehkan rakyat hidup dalam suasana harmoni.
ReplyDeletesetinggi-tinggi tahniah terhadap Ketua Menteri Sabah, Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman atas kejayaannya mampu membawa perubahan besar kepada negeri ini sekali gus meletakannya antara salah sebuah negeri yang termaju di seluruh negara.
ReplyDeleteMusa sebagai seorang pemimpin yang berwawasan jauh bukan sahaja berupaya membawa pembangunan dan kemakmuran kepada negeri ini malahan mewujudkan projek-projek mega di Sandakan.
ReplyDeletemenyeru terutama masyarakat suku kaum Bajau dan Suluk agar memberi sokongan yang lebih padu bagi memastikan BN menang besar dalam PRU-13 nanti.
ReplyDeleteThe Suluk ethnic community in Sabah has expressed their delight over Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's assurance that the government does not doubt their loyalty to the federal government following the intrusion of Filipino gunmen in Lahad Datu.
ReplyDeleteDatu Raman Datu Ismail said the community felt good and secured with the long-awaited assurance.
ReplyDelete"Alhamdullillah (thank God), the prime minister's affirmation is a welcome news for the federal government is not doubtful of our loyalty in defending the country's sovereignty.
"Likewise, we also expect other Sabah's ethnic groups not to despise us for not all ethnic groups like violence as what is happening today," he said.
ReplyDeleteThe Suluk leaders and traders described a group of armed foreigners who intruded into Lahad Datu and Semporna as 'Despicable and uncivilised.'
ReplyDeleteTawau Suluk-Bajau Cultural Association Deputy President, Abdul Ali Erilis, said they fully supported the Government's offensive against the armed group in Lahad Datu and its efforts to end the intrusion.
ReplyDeleteSabah Suluk Ethnik Roots Association Secretary, Mohamad Zaki Harry Susanto, also condemned the action of the intruders whom he described as "unjust and cruel".
ReplyDelete"Although, we are of Suluk origin, we have no connection whatsoever (with the group of armed intruders), and we don't support any action using violence on people of the same ethnic group. We, the Suluk of Sabah, state our support for the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Sabah Chief Minister and our loyalty to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Governor of Sabah," he said.
ReplyDeleteKota Kinabalu Handicraft Association Chairman Ruhil Sailadjan, hoped the standoff could be settled quickly without more bloodshed. He said the incident involving the intrusion had also affected trade as fewer visitors frequented the bazaar, as compared to the 2,000 daily.
ReplyDeleteWe should know the difference between the legal Suluk in Sabah and the illegal one.
ReplyDeletefollowing years of exploring, persuading and intensive negotiation, state-owned POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd thinks it has bridged the chasm that keeps the massive volume of biomass out of reach of eventual users, and is confident that the biomass industry will soon take off in Sabah.
ReplyDeleteAn unregulated supply chain has been the main stumbling block to developing the potential of the oil palm biomass downstream industry
ReplyDelete