WARISAN leader Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal prefers to have a single-party government for Sabah, saying it will be difficult to please all the leaders in an alliance.
The former Sabah chief minister said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has trouble managing the 19 parties in the federal unity coalition because not all party leaders were willing to become followers.
"It's not easy. The prime minister has to manage all these parties. Not everyone wants to be a follower; everyone wants to be a minister. But how many jobs are available?" Shafie said yesterday.
He was expressing concern over the trend of parties forming alliances ahead of the Sabah elections.
Shafie said the state had prospered under the Berjaya and Parti Bersatu Sabah administration for 20 years.
Berjaya had established beneficial agencies such as Sabah Forestry Industries and Sabah Gas, which have had a positive economic impact on the people, he said.
Shafie said it is up to Sabah voters to decide whether the current model was better than a single-party government.
He said the political landscape of Sabah is so fragmented today that there are parties in a coalition with only one assemblyman.
He said this means that the parties in the alliances are not equal in strength and influence.
"We cannot work together (if we are not equal). It could turn out to be like when we cooperated with Pakatan Harapan (in the 2020 Sabah elections),” he said.
Shafie said former Warisan allies DAP, PKR, and Upko had asked to run for a large number of seat but had only won a few.
He said Upko won only one of 18 seats and PKR, two of seven
Shafie said only DAP had won all the six seats it ran for but under the Warisan logo.
He said there is nothing to stop national parties from running for election in Sabah, but voters can contain their influence.
He said it is common for national parties to form electoral partnerships with local parties to gain a foothold in Sabah.
This was the case for Bersatu, he said, which he said made inroads into the state in 2019 through former Sabah Umno leaders.
As for a pact between Warisan and Sabah Umno, Shafie said the two parties have yet to come to a decision. He said Warisan was concerned about strengthening its own house first.
Shafie said Sabah has no choice but to work with national parties for now as the state does not have enough federal seats to influence the general election results.
"Whether we like it or not, Sabah only has 25 federal seats; we still have to work with Putrajaya.
“But Sabah and Sarawak can be a strong political force to determine Malaysia’s direction," said Shafie, referring to the 2022 general election, in which no single party won enough seats to form a majority. – May 15, 2024.
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