KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Pakatan Harapan (PH) has announced today that it is prepared to explore collaboration efforts with local-based parties to bring change in the state’s political landscape.
Its chairman Christina Liew said she believed local parties and a national party can support each other in the struggle to fulfill the people's aspirations to change both the state and federal government in the 14th General Election (GE14).
This followed the latest statement by PH chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who expressed confidence that the opposition pact could win half the number of the parliamentary seats in Sabah at the upcoming election.
“We welcome Dr Mahathir's statement and agree that Sabah is no longer the fixed deposit for Umno and BN. Sabahans are ready for a change in the next election.
“Based on feedback from the ground, we have reason to believe the desire of the people of Sabah for change is so strong that it will cause Umno and BN bn to lose many of their parliamentary and the state seats in the GE14.
“Sabah PH is ever ready and open to explore cooperative efforts with other local parties in our united vision and struggle to wrest the seats from Umno and BN, in order to create a government with greater accountability and change,” said Liew.
According to report by Malaysian Insight, Dr Mahathir said a Sabah-based party had been supportive of PH and that BN could no longer depend on Sabah and Sarawak to win the upcoming election.
Dr Mahathir was also quoted saying the two states were no longer BN fixed deposits as the federal government was weak and could not fulfill the needs of both states.
Parti Warisan Sabah vice-president Junz Wong, on his Facebook post, said Sabah political scenario should just leave it to Warisan, which he claimed to be “the strongest local opposition party".
“I have 101 per cent confidence with Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal that under his leadership, Warisan can formulate the right strategy to topple BN and form the new Sabah government,” he said in expressing agreement to Dr Mahathir’s statement.
Meanwhile, United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) deputy secretary Nelson Angang said Warisan was unlikely to join Pakatan based on previous reports.
“That means there’s a possibility that there will be candidates from Warisan and Pakatan going for the same seat. If this were to happen then clearly this kind of cooperation is not sincere or there’s actually no cooperation at all,” he said.
He added Dr Mahathir seemed to be hoping on Warisan to be the party that could break the dominance of Sabah BN.
“If we look at what is happening now, it seems like most of those who join Warisan are originally from other opposition parties. Many groups are formed within Warisan on every area, hoping that their man would be selected as candidates.
“What happens when election time comes and a candidate is selected? Those groups whose candidate is not chosen would most likely quit the party or even sabotage it.
“I foresee that since Warisan will not be in Pakatan, problems of avoiding a three corner fight amongst themselves will definitely come up,” said Anggang.
Umno Youth Exco member Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali called on the youth not to take the former premier’s statement blindly but its value based on Dr Mahathir’s history and performance in the perspective of Sabah.
“Sabah and Sarawak have not been given proper attention from Dr Mahathir as compared to Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Unlike Najib’s leadership, Dr Mahathir regarded Sabah leaders as not qualified to hold a senior position in the federal cabinet.
“For him, the only suitable posts for Sabahan were a Minister in the Prime Minister Department and Land and Cooperative Development Minister with no strategic roles,” he said.
Armizan, who is Papar Umno Youth Chief, also noted that Najib allocated huge funds for Sabah’s rural development throughout his eight years in leading the federal government.
“Let the people of Sabah, especially the
young generation, evaluate Dr Mahathir’s track record in Sabah throughout his 22 years as the Prime Minister,” he said.