Influence of candidates’ popularity, national sentiment and development in the by-election of P185 Batu Sapi, Sabah

The by-election of P185 Batu Sapi was held on 4 November 2010 following the death of the late incumbent Datuk Edmund Chong Ket Wah, 54, on October 9, 2010. The by-election was a three corners competition involving Barisan Nasional (BN) represented by the widow of the late Datuk Edmund, Linda Tsen Thau Lin, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) represented by Ansari Abdullah and the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) represented by her president Datuk Yong Teck Lee. The present article was aimed at analysing the influence candidates’ popularity besides sentiment on development and “Sabah for the people of Sabah” on the voting patterns of the Batu Sapi by-election. Using secondary data dan field observation, findingof the study revealed that the voting patterns of the Muslim Bumiputera voters tend to favour sentiment of development; the Chinese voters split up into two parts, some in favour of SAPP attracted over the sentiment on Sabah for the people of Sabah and others in support of PKR which depent national political sentiment. Thus, support of the majority of Muslim Bumiputera which form 60.1 percent of the entire voters in Batu Sapi, have influenced the result of the by-election in favor of BN with a majority of 6,359 votes. This indicates that the reality of Sabah political sentiment is primarily tied up to local development agenda in shaping the pattern of voting in Batu Sapi.