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THERE is a Chinese saying, that “When a field is infertile probably due to drought, nobody wants to cultivate it. But when the field is fertile with no irrigation problem, everyone wants to cultivate it.” 

I am referring to the recent PKR divisional elections to be followed by their national elections soon. Before that DAP also had its election which saw the ‘end’ of the Lim dynasty. 

In the PKR divisional elections, one Federal Minister lost, along with at least a couple of Deputy Ministers. Nearer home, Sabah Minister Datuk Christina Liew also lost in the KK division.

I don’t like to use the term ‘State Minister’ because in certain countries a State Minister is actually a Deputy Minister. For example Singapore.

Even Ministers, be it at the Federal or State level,  are challenged in party election at the divisional level? Refer to the Chinese saying.

If and when a party is in the Opposition or holds no power, you can expect fewer challengers. Less people are interested, for obvious reasons. Not everybody would like to be associated with an Opposition party. “Susah cari makan,” said a friend who is a businessman and obviously needs political connections in order to survive.

But if and when your party is in power or is part of the government? What more if your party president is the Prime Minister? Suddenly everybody wants to claim credit, to borrow the words of Tan Sri Bernard Dompok. Suddenly, everybody has a long list of their “sacrifices” for the party or, to put it bluntly, what the party “owes” them.

Suddenly, everybody is proud to be associated with a ruling party. Even if they have been ‘“sleeping partners” in the past, suddenly they are active again. Even mount a challenge to incumbents who have been with the party though thick and thin especially when the party was in the Opposition. I am not necessarily talking about PKR or DAP.

Coming back to Christina Liew, she obtained  1,157 votes against her challenger’s 1,381. Meaning she didn’t do too badly lah, can say close lah. The 200-odd delegates who didn’t vote for her must have their reasons to do so or may hold some grudges. 

You can’t please everybody. Sometimes, you don’t mean certain things. Sometimes, you may say certain things which you don’t really mean. May be you were busy or tired when you said it. In the case of Christina, one must remember that she had to divide her time being a State Assemblywoman or ‘Wakil Rakyat’, a Minister and a party Divisional Chief. She is human. Unlike most other parties who call their divisional chiefs ‘Ketua Bahagian’, PKR calls their ‘Ketua Cabang’, Indonesian style. 

What is even more painful is that her challenger is her former aide whom she put up as the KK Community Development Leader/Officer, something like that. Which reminds me of another Chinese saying, that “the Pupil, after learning the skills, challenges the Teacher or Master (as in Kung Fu)”.

I am not questioning the challenger’s right. The fact that she won made her decision more “right”. This is political reality and it is not the first time that it happens. It is for the loser to reflect on what went wrong. 

It is a pity that Christina lost. She has been with PKR since its early days in Sabah. Since the days when not everybody wants to be associated with Anwar Ibrahim who went to jail, twice. Since the days when the average Sabahan would like to be associated with PBS and later BN/Umno.

Christina is no novice in politics. She began her political career in the late 80s, I think, when she was younger by joining Sabah’s then ruling party, PBS. She even stood as a PBS candidate in Tawau (MP I think) but lost. She lost not because she was not popular but because the Chinese in Tawau were angry with the way KL treated PBS. So majority voted for DAP.

Then in 1994 the PBS government ‘collapsed’ and members started deserting it one by one. This is the reality of politics. Remember the Chinese saying?

One phenomenon of PBS deserting BN and subsequently collapsing was that for the first time KL-based national parties entered Sabah, finally. In other words, PBS’ own mistake. The first to enter Sabah was Umno, then other BN parties took the cue. MCA entered, even MIC although there are not that many Indians in Sabah. Even Gerakan, the once all-powerful ruling party in Penang but now could hardly win a single seat.

If I am not mistaken, after her election defeat in Tawau, Christina also joined MCA. All I can remember is that, when asked by reporters, her response then was “People also entitled to change mah….” Or something like that.

Anyway, she didn’t stay in MCA for long. She joined PKR in 2004.  She was even PKR’s candidate in Luyang in the newly-created constituency of Luyang in 2004.  She lost but she didn’t do too badly. She managed 3,711 votes against SAPP’s 5,965. To me, as long as a candidate does not lose  deposit, “masuk book” already. 

Sabah’s political history has seen many candidates, mostly Independents, losing their deposits. At that time, PKR was still new in Sabah and didn’t have much of an appeal being an Opposition party and with Anwar in jail.

In 2013, Christina finally won PKR’s first seat in Sabah when she won in the Api-Api state constituency. After entering politics for more than 20 years, she finally became a YB. What made her election sweeter was that she defeated then Deputy Chief Minister Dr Yee Mo Chai, making her a ‘Giant Killer’ of sorts. 

In that election, Christina scored 5,853 votes against Yee’s 5,220. In other words, the majority was less than a thousand. Some call it a narrow victory while some call it close fight as both secured more than 5,000 votes. 

But, to again borrow Dompok’s words, there is no such thing as a narrow victory as a win is a win. “A rose by any other name is equally fragrant,” he said.  

Then people in the State Capital began to know who Christina was although she originated from Tawau, just like Datuk Chan Foong Hin. In 2018, Christina killed two birds with one stone when she won both the Api-Api State seat and Tawau MP seat. The first Sabah woman politician to achieve such a feat.

In 2018, also standing against Dr Yee, Christina won with an even bigger majority. She widened her majority to almost 3,000. That was the year that Malaysians  and Sabahans revolted against BN. It was then said that in certain areas even it  you put a “dog”, the dog would win against BN.

After the formation of the Warisan+ government in 2018, Christina was appointed a Deputy Chief Minister, the first female Chinese woman to do so. She was also holding the Tourism portfolio. It was the busiest time of her political career then, having to divide her time between a State Assemblywoman, a Minister and a MP. 

However, all good things must come to an end. In 2022 she lost her Tawau MP seat to GRS represented by PBS’s Lo. Both Liew and Lo are lawyers. However, in the 2020 State election, she retained her Api-Api seat.

In the 2020 election, Christina managed to defend her Api-Api seat by receiving an even larger majority, this time more than 5,000 in a crowded field – 9 candidates.

And for the 3rd time since 2013, she defeated Dr Yee who managed 2,449 votes against Christina’s 7,796. Let the figures speak for itself. All the other candidates including 3 Independents got more than 500 each and lost their deposits.  

But the Warisan+ government was unseated by GRS+ in 2020 and Christina lost her job as a Minister. But, as fate would have it, she became Tourism Minister again in 2023 when PKR and DAP supported Hajiji who survived a coup. But this time without the DCM title.

The moral of the story here is that, as Kak Wan (Anwar’s wife) once put it – “Manusia merancang, Tuhan turt merancang” (Man plans, but God also plans).

Does Christina’s defeat mean that she might lose her Cabinet post? I don’t think so. PKR president and PM Anwar has made it clear that party elections and government machinery are two different things. There will be no Cabinet reshuffle, he added.

Similarly, at the State level, I don’t think CM Hajiji will reshuffle the Cabinet. He would take the cue from PM Anwar. The Hajiji that I know is not an ungrateful person. He will not forget that Christina saved him from the coup in 2013.

Besides, if Christina were to be dropped from the State Cabinet, who would replace her? The only other PKR Assemblyman available is Peto Galim. He is both Sabah PKR deputy chief and an Assistant Minister. I don’t think he would be so ungrateful to Christina who helped make him the PKR candidate in 2020.

When asked by reporters recently, Peto said that the party will think of a way to enable Christina to continue serving. That is an encouraging statement.

After all, Christina is an asset to the party. She has been with Sabah PKR since the early days when people shy away. She is highly educated, being a lawyer. An Assemblywoman since 2013 and MP from 2018 to 2022 and a Minister twice, she has much to contribute to the party regardless of her post.

Besides, losing the divisional election does not necessarily mean the end of the road for Christina. PM Anwar has said that the losers could still contest at the central level soon. 

Even if she does not contest or lose, she can still be appointed if Anwar feels that she can continue to contribute to the party. I expect Anwar to consider Christina’s contribution since the days when he was in jail.

There is a Chinese saying, that “Even if there is no service or ‘jasa’, there has been an effort.” So Christina is not to be written off just like that. If ‘the Donald’ can come back as US president despite having been found guilty by the courts….

Similarly, Tanjong Papat Assemblyman and former Minister Datuk Farnkie Poon also lost his job as Sabah DAP chief a few months ago. Just as I am full of praise for Christina, I am full of praise for Poon too.

Just like Christina, Poon is a lawyer. He has class and decorum. This can be seen by the way he answered reporters’ question after the demise of former Sandakan MP and Sabah Minister Datuk Stephen Wong. 

The reporters in Sandakan were asking him about DAP’s possible candidate for the upcoming by-election. He calmly replied: “The funeral is not even over yet….”

Just like Christina, it is a pity that Poon lost his DAP state chief job. The new Chairman is Ginger Phoon, once Poon’s political secretary after the formation of the Warisan+ government.

But the Chinese proverb involving the pupil and the master cannot be necessarily applied here because Ginger did not actually challenge Poon. 

You see, the DAP system is such that delegates to the State DAP Congress would first elect some 15 or 20 state committee members. They would in turn choose a chairman among themselves. Poon was not elected to the committee.

Poon is Chairman of the State GLC Sabah Development Berhad (SDB) with Ministerial status. Not to be confused with Sabah Development Bank.

His fate as to whether he would be fielded again in Tanjong Papat lies with the new State Chairman, his former ‘pupil’. But this does not mean that the central party leadership, especially secretary-general Anthony Loke cannot intervene if he does not agree with Ginger’s decision. Similarly Likas Assemblyman Tan Lee Fatt who was in Poon’s camp.

I see no reason to drop Poon. To do so would be a grave mistake. He is an intellectual and an asset to the party. 

The views expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Express. If you have something to share, write to us at: [email protected]