Lim Kit Siang Returns to Normal Politics: Targets Sabah GE14

It is an encouraging sign that Pakatan Rakyat leadership are beginning to discuss what they did wrong at GE13, and how they can win at GE14.
DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang valiantly declared this week: "DAP and PR leaders are analysing the results of the general election to draw up an action plan to begin follow-up campaigns to win the hearts and minds of the majority of Sabahans.

"The next general election will be a double battle for Ubah — both in Putrajaya as well as the Sabah state government."
This suggests that Pakatan Rakyat's unhealthy fixation with refusing to accept the election results is ending, and politics is returning to normal.

Of course, 'normal' here includes the fact that Pakatan Rakyat are determined to win Borneo, even as they simply doesn't understand the dynamics of Sabah and Sarawak.

Pakatan leaders have not recognised the backbreaking work that its campaigners would have to put in, doling out time to constituents in what are some of the most remote seats in the world.
The rural landscapes of Sabah and Sarawak are hard and the people there will not be outwitted by supposedly sophisticated city dwellers, despite Anwar's famous line of "Shakespeare for KL, the Koran for the Kampung".

Indeed the belittling comments did not end there, with Lim Kit Siang asking of Sabahan Felda settlers regarding the FGVH listing "what do these people know of such matters?"
Worse, he didn't even ask the settlers, but was happy to talk to a Peninsular audience, harkening another era entirely.

Such sloppiness is bookended by Pakatan's antiquated notion that they can simply buy off any serious political contenders. Unfortunately for the Opposition, the opportunistic likes of Wilfred Bumburing and Lakim Ukin simply do not qualify.

This sort of behaviour is not the way to win that coveted 'rural tsunami'. Yet it seems unlikely to stop them trying.

This turn to election concerns and ordinary politics is nevertheless a welcome change. It is further proof that Kit Siang, and the DAP, are acting as an Opposition would be expected to do in any mature democracy – by going back to ground to win votes for the next election.
DAP, unlike some of their coalition allies, have at least acknowledged that Barisan Nasional won GE13. Yet they are showing some pluck by suggesting that next time, BN will lose. It all sounds so familiar.

The likelihood of Kit Siang's projections are not as important as what they suggest: Malaysia may finally be returning to normal.