Will the independents displace UMNO candidates in 11 constituencies?

Campaign for the Sabah state election ended midnight last night. Any campaigning will only be online and last minute whispering reminders. 

Provision of transport as in Peninsular Malaysia is not widely practised in Sabah as it is physically limiting and political parties merely give supporters money to arrange their own transport. That money should be considered corruption as it is usually more than required. There could be bidding war between competing parties. 

In Sabah political circle, they are quite upfront and it means the practise is a norm and widespread, particularly in the rural parts of Sabah. The size of the so-called transport money and being the last to pay before polling could determine the outcome. 

Information received this afternoon Warisan has been aggressively dishing out transport money to add to their widespread and large posters, banners and flags. It is to compensate their overwhelming disadvantaged position in the campaign issue. 

Silterra: Selling local or foreign, where is Khazanah's national objective?

Back in November 2018, after the fall of BN government and under the early part of PH government, there was news report by Malaysia Reserve that a Chinese microelectronic producer selected Silterra as a key strategic partner to produce 8-inch wafer. 

Wafer is a thin slice of semi-conductor used for fabrication of integrated circuits and in photovoltaic, to manufacture solar cells. 

Despite facing heavy critique as one of the many big idea failures of Tun Dr Mahathir, the Khazanah-owned wafer fabrication plant in Kulim was being acknowledged by China for its 20 years experience for independently running a fabrication plant. 

It is a testimony of Malaysian can do spirit. Silterrra inked a technology transfer partnership with a Singapore based technology developer in December the same year. They are exploring for opportunities in new areas of application. 

Money pumped under Najib administration began to generate profitability. However, the accumulated losses left by Mahathir administration was in the billions and it haunted Khazanah. 

Sabah sovereignty should be main election issue

Last Tuesday, the Court of Appeal decided to dismiss the appeal by Tan Sri Musa Aman and the 33 state assemblymen against the dissolution of Sabah state assembly by Governor, TYT Tun Juhah at the request of Chief Minister, Dato Seri Shafie Apdal. 

His appeal will have implication on the constitutional power of the ruler. Sabah Governor status is considered as representative of the Council of Rulers. 

Musa is still attempting to stop the poll through the court for his pending appeals in his tussle with Shafie. However, the practical expectation is to resume the Sabah snap election as earlier announced by Election Commission (EC) for nomination tomorrow, September 12th. If decisions had or turned up otherwise, EC would still apply to the court to continue election as scheduled. 

Musa can continue his legal bid to salvage his pride. It was his mistake to call for the press conference that set off alarm for Shafie to immediately dissolve the asssembly. 

Going back to the people for new mandate is the solution. More so, political parties began to announce the number of seats they are contesting and their candidates.  

Shafie's move to dissolve the state assembly is anticipated. It was surprising and unbecoming of both Musa and Dato Hamzah Zainuddin to miss that. 

Also anticipated is Phillipines repeating their claim on Sabah. 

Syed Saddiq to quit politics

Despite scepticism over Syed Saddiq's intention to launch a youth party to contest for the upcoming 15th General Election, it created quite a buzz that over a wedding last weekend a young man was confidently claiming young voters will join in drove and support him. 

The young man must be a staunch believer as he gloated about how different, decisive, and independent young voters are in their political views and demands. 

However, that narrative is not new and not unheard off. Graduates returning from abroad 40 years ago were expounding the same civil libertarian virtues. Where there is progression in the youth thinking in the past, today's youth lacked any sense of history, continuity and consistency in their thoughts. 

Youth and new voters created the tsunami that brought the mighty BN down in May 2018, but in a year, they changed preference and gave the cue that led to the fall of PH in March. A bit more than 100 days, the sentiment and rationale seemed to have shifted. 

Young and new voters form more than 60% of voters. Syed Saddiq could make an impact should he be able to get his resources, organisation and message in place. Whether they could win any seats, it is yet to be seen, but to be a spoiler, his new party could do. 

Instead of downplaying Saddiq, Johor MB Dato Hasni Mohamed should ignore him. Hasni argued that BN could be a better voice for youth than the dedicated youth party  

Frankly, the youth party is merely a script and transitional phase for Saddiq to take sabbatical leave from politics and save himself from being charged for money laundering. Betcha he will suddenly show up with a letter of offer from Oxford University.