DUSUN TUA – Entering the state elections as an alliance for the first time in their history, decade-old rivals Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) are striving to eliminate their fractious past to achieve a truly strong and united pact.
Sabah BN chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin described the state elections as a “testing ground” for BN and PH, saying the election results will show the level of understanding and cooperation between the giant parties.
“We (BN and PH) had fought for years in Parliament, we have been opponents for so long. This time, we are standing together hand in hand in campaigns.
“This election will be the testing ground of our togetherness, and if we succeed, I think we can stay as government not only for five years but for decades and even hundreds of years to come,” he told Scoop when met at the BN-PH campaign talk at Taman Cheras Awana, Cheras, here, last night.
Last night’s talk saw nearly 3,000 people turn up at the event, with 90% of them being residents within the vicinity.
Even though the Dusun Tua seat is being contested by BN’s Datuk Johan Abd Aziz, the talk was headlined by mostly PH speakers who spoke in Mandarin, catering to the majority of Chinese voters in attendance.
These speakers also uttered in unison: “Dear PH supporters, don’t be sad that we do not have a candidate here. Vote for BN. One vote for Johan means one vote for PH.”
The pact appeared to be putting in more effort to secure the seat, as it was won by PH through its component party DAP in the last election, defeating BN with an 11,000 majority.
Bung admitted that there were obstacles and difficulties in the PH-BN collaboration in the beginning, but the pact jointly decided to put aside all past and petty arguments with the same mission to have a strong and stable coalition.
“It (the collaboration) was not forced because Umno offered ourselves to join the unity government, and we have realised it.
“Alhamdulillah, even though Umno only has 30 seats, we play the biggest role in the unity government,” he said.
Meanwhile, Johan said he knew very well that BN would not be able to secure the Dusun Tua seat without the help of PH.
“Not only was our collaboration not forced, PH even offered and volunteered to take charge of five polling centres here.
“(As for asking for DAP-PH supporters to vote for BN) not only were they (voters) shocked, but we (politicians) were shocked too. But the process of settling down and cooling down is done. We are entering the sixth day of the campaigning period, and we have seven more days to go (before state elections).
“PH and BN are intact; we are working closely together. Look at the blue and red flags,” he said.
A local voter here, Chan Yuk Boon, 61, who attended the talk with his neighbours, said that he was there to support PH.
“Talks like this here are important because we are afraid that there are people, especially the Chinese, who don’t know that PH and BN are together now.
“When they cannot see the PH logo (when voting) and they don’t want to vote for BN, they might vote for PN. Talks like this are to prevent that from happening,” he said.
He also opined that the Dusun Tua seat, especially in Cheras, is a sure-win seat for PH-BN.
Johan is facing two other opponents, namely PN’s Azhar Hambali and a new face, Al Hafiz Ikhwan, from Muda, in the seat with about 74,000 voters. – August 4, 2023