TTF: During the 14th general election (GE14), back when PBS was still part of Barisan Nasional, the coalition’s (then) candidate for the Sandakan parliamentary constituency, Lim Ming Hoo, received 32.3 per cent of the total votes cast.
That’s 11.23 per cent upstream of what PBS’ Linda Then Thau Lin received yesterday, which is quite significant if you ask me.
Of course, one could argue that Ming Hoo had it easier than Linda.
In 2018, Ming only had the DAP’s Wong Then Fatt to contend with, unlike yesterday, where Vivian and Linda were up against three other candidates, all independents.
The independents collectively bagged 5.05 per cent of the total votes cast.
For the sake of discussion, let’s just assume that all those votes ought to have been Linda’s.
Under the circumstances, Linda would still be short of 6.18 percent in votes to be on par with Ming Hoo.
And 6.18 per cent is precisely the difference between Vivian’s and Linda’s score yesterday.
What this means, is the 6.18 per cent Linda failed to bag had somehow leaked into DAP territory.
Factor that in with the analysis I did late last night (follow link below), and you will see just why the probability of that 6.18 per cent comprising primarily of Muslim-Bumiputra votes is very, very real.
LINK TO LAST NIGHT’S ARTICLE:
Sandakan: Muslim-Bumiputra swing towards DAP a stark possibility
Then, when you consider all the DAP’s broken promises to Sabahans and the more than obvious attacks on Islam, the Muslim prophets, the Malay Rulers and the robbing of Malay-Muslim and Bumiputra assets, it suddenly seems possible that the Muslim-Bumiputras in Sandakan punished PBS for betraying BN and teaming up with rivals.
But that is not to say we should completely ignore the possibility of there having been truckloads of cash handed out by the DAP to Muslim Bumiputras in the rural areas.
KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) today congratulated DAP’s Vivian Wong for winning the Sandakan by-election.
In a statement, PBS President Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili said they respect the people’s choice in the by-election while admitting that they were facing an uphill task in the race.
“The voters have chosen and we respect the decision of the voters. We hope DAP will honour all the promises they made to the people.
“At the outset, PBS recognised itself as the political underdog given the electoral result for the constituency in the 14th General Elections.
“PBS put up a good fight, but in the end, we could not overcome the might we were facing. God bless Sandakan, Sabah and Malaysia,” he said, stating further that the party is grateful to voters and political allies who had supported their candidate.
“We will persist in the pursuit of justice, defence of the constitution and protection of the rights of Sabah and Malaysian people,’’ he added.
Election Commission returning officer Hamsan Awang Supain announced the official results with Wong taking the lion’s share of 16,012 with a majority of 11,521 votes.
Her closest rival Datuk Linda Tsen from Parti Bersatu Sabah took 4,491 votes while independents Hamzah Abdullah took 788 votes, Chia Siew Yung had 178 and Sulaiman Abdul Samat had 126.
Out of the 21,595 people who voted, 18 were unreturned and 234 were rejected.
In last year’s general election, Wong’s father, the late Datuk Stephen Wong, won by a 10,098 majority.
Adapted from:
