Kitingan's Star shines bright in Sabah polls

SABAH POLLS | Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) has finally come of age during the 2020 Sabah elections.

The party was initially written off as an outlier during the 2018 elections, but it went on to win two state seats (Bingkor and Tambunan) and one parliamentary seat (Keningau).

Led by the eccentric Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan (above), 72, Star scored its best-ever electoral result during the election this year.

Six out of the party's eight candidates won - a 75 percent win rate, which is the best of all Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition parties.

Apart from retaining Bingkor and Tambunan, Star also won the nearby Paginatan and Liawan seats.

More importantly, the party expanded its influence outside its Keningau stronghold by winning the Tulid and Sook seat in Pensiangan.

Pensiangan is also a Parliamentary constituency which was hitherto considered the stronghold of Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) - a BN component party.

PBRS had won the Sook seat in 2018 but its incumbent Ellron Angin defected to Star in 2018.

Alongside uncomfortable allies Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Star has now established itself as a legitimate player in Kadazan Dusun Murut areas in interior Sabah.

Star's performance will no doubt be a major credibility boost for Kitingan in the Perikatan Nasional coalition, where he is already the deputy president.

His party would now be in a position to demand senior positions in the Sabah cabinet and have even more leverage in Putrajaya.

Currently, Kitingan is the deputy minister for tourism, arts, and culture.

Follow Malaysiakini's coverage of the Sabah state election here.