Slay the “frogs” and bring an end in Sabah and Malaysia the disgusting political culture of “frogging” to usher in a new era of honest and conviction politics

Never before has there been so many candidates contesting in the Sabah state general election in the last five decades – 447 candidates for 73 seats, with one seat facing a 11-cornered fight, one-seat a 10-cornered fight, three seats nine-cornered, five seats eight-cornered, 13 seats seven-cornered, 26 seats six-cornered and 15 seats five-cornered fights.

But in Sabah, it is not only individuals but political parties who could be political frogs.

It is indeed a massive free-for-all but it accentuates what should be one of the objectives of the 2020 Sabah state general election – to slay the “frogs” whether persons or parties and bring an end in Sabah and Malaysia the disgusting political culture of “frogging” and to usher in a new era of honest and conviction politics.

The Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that if the state opposition coalition wins and agrees, Sabah Bersatgu chief Hajiji Mohd Noor would become the Sabah Chief Minister.

But this was immediately contradicted by the UMNO president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

It is clear that neither the Perikatan Nasional and Barisan Nasional have an agreed candidate to be the Chief Minister for Sabah, unlike the Warisan-Plus coalition, whose candidature of Shafie Apdal to continue as Chief Minister is clear and unequivocal.

How can there be “friendly fire” among Perikatan Nasional, BN and PBS in the Sabah election to justify the reneging of last Thursday’s negotiated agreement and to raise the number of seat clashes among them from 11 to 17 constituencies?

The pertinent question is whether the “frog” political culture in Sabah and Malaysia would be brought to an end with the slaying of all political frogs in the Sabah general election on Sept. 26?

Lim Kit Siang MP for Iskandar Puteri