Kota Kinabalu: Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star Sabah) President Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey G. Kitingan (pic) said the recent election results clearly demonstrated the growing inclination among Sabahans to strengthen the role of local-based parties in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly.
“Sabah voters have managed to reduce the dominance of external parties. The election results saw DAP failing to win any seat, PKR securing only one seat, while Barisan Nasional (BN) won six seats.
“The outcome sends a clear message from the people of Sabah that they want local parties to play a bigger role in shaping the political direction of the state,” he said.
Jeffrey, who is also Member of Parliament for Keningau and State Assemblyman for Tambunan, said Star obtained more than 74,000 votes, compared to about 48,000 votes in the previous state election.
However, he acknowledged that Star Sabah was among the parties affected by multi-cornered contests, resulting in the party winning only two seats, compared to six seats previously.
He said situation arose because several other local parties also contested, leading to competition among local parties for voter support.
“Although the total votes for Star increased significantly, the presence of multiple local parties contesting led to vote splitting, which affected the number of seats won,” he said.
Jeffrey said Star Sabah will reorganise its political strategy for the upcoming Parliamentary General Election, including strengthening cooperation with political partners in Sarawak and other local parties through the Borneo Bloc framework.
He said such cooperation is crucial in continuing efforts to safeguard the constitutional rights of Sabah and Sarawak within the Federation of Malaysia.
“We want to ensure that the rights of Sabah and Sarawak are respected, including the demand for 40 per cent of federal tax revenue collected in Sabah and 35 per cent of parliamentary seats to be allocated to the Borneo Bloc to ensure a balanced representation of Borneo at the federal level,” he said.
