KOTA KINABALU – Warisan cited difficulty in collectively resolving important Sabah issues with other parties during the short-lived Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration as the reason for its decision to contest all 25 parliamentary seats in the state as well as the Labuan constituency.
Its president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said the matter was decided by the party’s supreme council today.
He said similar problems are now cropping up with the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalitions currently in the caretaker government.
He said these coalitions are stricken by issues ranging from seat distribution to logos for the forthcoming 15th general election (GE15).
Sabah’s ruling state alliance, the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) is feeling the brunt of such disagreements, he added.
“The reason we want to contest in all Sabah seats and Labuan is that we want to reset the way things are administered at the state level,” said Shafie.
He stressed that Sabah parties should aspire to be like Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), which is ruling Sarawak, in not being affected by the peninsula’s political turmoil.
“This is why we need a reset in Sabah. The political situation is each time crippled due to matters like seat sharing, logo and others,” he said.
“These have become common and it is happening now in the peninsula due to conflict among the component parties in BN, PH and others.
“If we have an alliance with others today, when we want to fight for Sabah tomorrow, the peninsula-based parties will decide and we have to follow them,” he added.
On GRS, he said Warisan cannot fault the alliance, which is cooperating with BN in Sabah, as it must abide by the decisions made by its leadership.
The Bersatu-led GRS and Sabah BN will work together in GE15 despite Bersatu and Umno (BN) being at loggerheads in Peninsular Malaysia. Umno is the lead party in BN.
GRS will use its own logo in GE15 while BN is expected to use its own logo too.
Yesterday, Shafie revealed Warisan’s plans to contest all the parliamentary seats in Sabah and Labuan while speaking at the Concorde Club senior editors’ roundtable.
He stated that the party will be contesting in Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Johor and Kelantan.
On the party’s preparation for the election, Shafie said it has finalised the candidates’ list but will reveal this in time.
He said the party will field a mix of candidates comprising young and old faces, women and youths.
“Although diversity is important, the ultimate goal is to win all seats that are contested,” said the Semporna MP.
Shafie also confirmed that as party president he will have to defend his seat while deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking will defend his Penampang seat.
At the same time, he said, the party will also likely contest one seat in Kelantan. He also confirmed that a “doctor” will contest the Klang seat.
On another note, Shafie also left a small window open for PBS to change its mind to work with Warisan, stressing that cooperation with another Sabah-based party would set the state on the right political footing to be like Sarawak.
“Unless something happens at the last minute we will make some adjustments. Local parties are what we want in Sabah. This is the reset we want,” he said. – The Vibes, October 12, 2022
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