SABAH politicians seem to be having a field day lately, publicly roiling the political waters simply because, well, they can, I suppose. Politicians everywhere won't be politicians worth their salt, I guess, if they do not have a sixth sense for opportunity and are not quick on the uptake.

That said, the almost daily barrage of political posturing by Sabah-based politicians, both inside and outside Parliament, reveals a shocking absence of political decorum and the bare-knuckle nature of politics as practised in that state.

It gives me little satisfaction to conclude that this only vindicates what I have always held all along: that democracy or what passes for it in our part of the world can only bring about good if there is someone stern, respected, even feared, acting as taskmaster at the very top. Many deny that to be so, of course, but I reckon it to be sadly true.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is certainly correct in being leery of any perception that the federal government would succumb to any form of political blackmail simply because it needs crucial support from Sabah members of parliament.

The federal opposition also needs to be called on the carpet on this. Having won unprecedented electoral support on the pitch that the way politics conducted in Malaysia needs to be changed, it now needs to examine its conscience and consider if it is not itself now providing an enabling environment for politics-as-usual to persist and thrive.
For if the Barisan Nasional were to lose the reins of government federally, the opposition will have gained power simply by default and through the setting of a very dangerous precedent.

A successor federal government may yet rue the exorbitantly high price paid for power. While we lament the absence of political statesmanship emanating out of Sabah, it behoves us to pause and ponder why it has to come to such a critical juncture.

Sabah politicians would not be so bold if they did not know public opinion in the state is with them. They seem to be harvesting a mother-lode of public antipathies towards the federal government. With the benefit of hindsight, it is not difficult to see why.

The sentiment is almost universal in Sabah that the spirit and essence of federalism have eroded over the years. This is partly the state's own doing, as a previous hard-line political stance against the federal government opened up fissures in the state which the centre naturally exploited.

But in exploiting political openings in the state, the federal government might have over-extended itself and intruded rather aggressively into state prerogatives, and is, therefore, now reaping the wrath of an anti-federal backlash.

Current developments should, therefore, be seen in their proper light, which is to view present circumstances as opportune for setting state-federal relations back on an even keel.

Given the current political climate, it may take uncommon effort on the part of both state and federal players to negotiate a deal that will be seen as equitable to both sides. But the basic outlines of such a deal are fairly straightforward.

Some of the more outlandish federal encroachments on state domains will have to be set aside in return for the equally outlandish state demands to moderate.

Sabah politicians would do themselves a good turn and uplift themselves in the eyes of other Malaysians if they articulate a coherent set of demands reflecting popular sentiment in the state, without resorting to blatant threats to bring down the national government if thwarted.