VOTERS were looking at candidates’ popularity and ethnicity, as well as development offers, before deciding on who to vote for in Sabah, said analysts.

They said logos or symbols are no longer the beacon to be counted on to automatically draw voters.

Policies and personalities are the real draw, and this was seen with Perikatan Nasional, which did well in the 16th state election on Saturday, while three independents won seats purely on the strength of their track records.

PN launched its logo on the eve of the state polls and reeled in 14 seats, based primarily on its policies at the federal level and promises for development in Sabah.

Analysts said the three independent candidates defeated members of other well-known parties, such as Warisan, Barisan Nasional and even the United Sabah National Organisation (Usno), which has existed since the 1960s.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) political lecturer Dr Mazlan Ali said PN did not win 17 of the 29 seats it contested because of its party emblem alone.

“PN won quite a lot of seats compared with Usno, which lost, despite having been around for a long time,” he told The Malaysian Insight, adding Usno’s logo is recognisable to many in the state.

Usno was founded in 1961 by Mustapa Harun and dissolved in 1996 after its leaders joined Umno, which had then begun to take root in Sabah.

The party was re-registered in 2013 and is now led by former Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia.

“For decades, the Usno logo (was conspicuous in Sabah), but PN got more seats than it.

“This shows that the logo is not a factor in everything. There are many other factors that swayed voters,” Mazlan said.

BN, which cooperated with PN in the as yet unregistered Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition, won 14 seats out of the 41 it contested. All 14 seats were represented by Umno.

Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), another GRS party, which excelled in four state elections between 1985 and 1994, won seven of the 22 seats it contested on Saturday.

It was incumbent Warisan, however, that won the most seats, garnering 23 of the 46 seats contested.

Together with its ally DAP, which won six seats, as well as PKR (2) and Upko (1), the coalition branded as Warisan Plus won 32 seats altogether.

Mazlan said the election results showed that voters picked the party they felt is best able to champion the people.

From his experience meeting voters during the campaigning period that began on September 12, Mazlan said many revealed they were voting for BN and the PN because they could “give money” to them.

“People in rural areas expect help from the government. They need money from the government.

“Whoever can champion their rights and bring development, they will support,” he said.

Independent game-changers

Ilham Centre chief executive Hisomuddin Bakar said the victory of the three independent candidates is proof that voters do not necessarily vote along political party lines.

Symbols long seen as magnets for voters mattered little for voters in the three areas of Kuamut, Pitas, and Kemabong.

“The voting pattern in Sabah looks at the strength of the candidate. This can be seen from the popularity of the independent candidates.

“Some of them are strong and influential,” he said.

Hisomuddin cited the Pitas seat, which was won by independent candidate Ruddy Awah, whose is well-known among residents and has a solid track record.

Ruddy was formerly deputy head of the area’s PKR branch but left the party when action was taken against party members loyal to former deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, who was sacked last July.

“We went to the groung and saw that Ruddy’s long-term voters would present great challenges to big parties, such as Warisan and PN,” he said.

Ruddy won with a majority of 559 votes, defeating BN, Warisan, PCS and Usno candidates.

Meanwhile, independent candidate Masiung Banah, who won in Kuamut, won the seat in the last general election on a BN ticket.

He was then an Upko member, who left the party to join Warisan after GE14.

Meanwhile, Rubin Balang, who won in Kemabong, is also a household name among constituents.

He was Kemabong assemblyman for three terms (2004, 2008 and 2013) before moving to contest the Tenom parliamentary seat in GE14, which he lost.

Despite being the head of Bersatu’s Tenom division, Rubin defied the party to contest as an independent.

Yesterday, Rubin told a press conference, in the presence of Sabah Bersatu chairman Hajiji Noor, that he supported PN and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s leadership.

Hisomuddin said ethnic and family factors also shaped the voting pattern in Sabah.

“Voters also evaluated the personality of the candidate to see if they are easily approachable as an elected representative, and considered their contributions before becoming an elected representative.

“The logo is only important for voters who are loyal to the party. It is a complementary factor to the personality of a candidate,” Hisomuddin added.

GE15 looms

Meanwhile, Mazlan said the voting pattern in Sabah cannot be readily applied to the general election or the peninsula.

He said voters in the peninsula are more particular about integrity and good governance, as opposed infrastructure and development.

“Development policies only apply to rural areas in the peninsula.

“Urban voters, on the other hand, value parties and candidates with integrity, who can carry out good administration and governance,” he said.

Meanwhile, a PN insider told The Malaysian Insight that Muhyiddin had insisted that the new coalition emblem be used in Sabah.

“The Sabah election was testing grounds before the general election. That was why Muhyiddin wanted the PN logo to be used, even though many party leaders were sceptical.

“This move seems to be successful, even though the new logo was introduced less than a week before polling,” the source said.

The PN logo was launched at a ceremony in Kota Kinabalu on September 9, two days before nomination day for the state elections. – September 28, 2020.