Sabah BN will win seats ‘by default’

Some analysts in Sabah believe that as many as 20 seats,
including five or six parliamentary seats, could go to
BN as a result of a split in opposition votes.

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is set to see multi-cornered fights in most areas in the coming general election. This means that the ruling Barisan Nasional may have the edge.

At this stage, observers can conclude that the opposition parties in Sabah are giving Umno-led BN a “free advantage” to retain a majority of the Sabah seats.

At stake in Sabah are 26 parliamentary seats, including one in Labuan, and 60 state seats.

Sabah chairman of State Reform Party (STAR), Jeffrey Kitingan, said recently that his party is all but ready to announce the seats – parliamentary and state – it will contest.

Sabahans must wake up to the reality of being disenfranchised, marginalised citizens - Datuk Dr Jeffrey G Kitingan

STAR's Sabah Chairman, Dr Jeffrey Kitingan

Sabahans must wake up from their slumber and complacency and UNITE to defend their rights and their country from being taken over by outsiders, said Datuk Dr Jeffrey G Kitingan, Chairman of STAR Sabah when launching STAR’s Roadshow entitle “POSIK with Agenda Borneo” in Kg. Purak, Papar yesterday which was attended by over one thousand supporters.

“POSIK” is the dusun word for ‘wake up’.

Why Chávez Was Re-elected - honest opinion from New York Times

By MARK WEISBROT
Published: October 9, 2012

WASHINGTON — For most people who have heard or read about Hugo Chávez in the international media, his reelection on Sunday as president of Venezuela by a convincing margin might be puzzling.

Almost all of the news we hear about him is bad: He picks fights with the United States and sides with “enemies” such as Iran; he is a “dictator” or “strongman” who has squandered the nation’s oil wealth; the Venezuelan economy is plagued by shortages and is usually on the brink of collapse.

Workable Solutions Focus of Renewable Energy Meet in Sabah

Members of the Murut indigenous group in Sabah working
on installing a micro hydro turbine in Borneo.

KOTA KINABALU, MALAYSIA (8th Oct 2012): Community-based solutions and cost effective, reliable models for generating renewable electricity are among features of a regional assembly in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, that will do its part in creating a sustainable energy secure future for the planet.

The five-day Southeast Asia Renewable Energy People’s Assembly (SEAREPA) that starts on Oct 29 at the Rainforest Discovery Centre in Sandakan will also explore an array of renewable energy technologies and methodologies.

Migrants, church may end BN’s Borneo vote bank

KOTA KINABALU: Housewife Fawziah Abdul wants to thank former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad for making her a citizen 10 years after she illegally slipped into Borneo from the southern Philippines in search of a better life.

The 50-year-old lives on the outskirts of Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Malaysia’s Sabah state, where her tin-roofed shack jostles for space with more than 1,000 others in a slum where children play beside heaps of rubbish.

She is hopeful that her three children will get a new home and identity cards if she votes for the government again.