KOTA KINABALU – The ball is in Sabah Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairperson Datuk Christina Liew’s court to decide on whether the coalition in the state will support Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim or Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal to be the next prime minister, said Sabah DAP secretary-general Chan Foong Hin.
Chan, who is PH treasurer for the state, said that Liew, as the chief of the state coalition, has more authority to decide on such matters.
As for Sabah DAP, the Kota Kinabalu MP was open over the prime-minister candidate matter but pointed out as part of DAP and therefore PH, Anwar is the opposition leader and choice for prime minister for the coalition.
“Anwar will be leading the opposition in the coming general election, so naturally he will be the candidate for PM.
“In the meantime, we also support Shafie (Warisan’s president) as a qualified candidate for PM.
“But I am not the person to ask as I am only treasurer of Sabah PH. The legitimate person to speak to on this choice would be Liew,” he said at a press conference at the Sabah DAP Luyang community office in Foh Sang near here today.
According to Chan, reports of Warisan disassociating itself from PH had been over-interpreted, saying Shafie’s decision came about following a PH council meeting last year, where he was fed up with the infighting between Anwar and former PH chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
As for Warisan’s close ties with Muda led by Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, Chan clarified that DAP was also talking with the party, adding that the likeliness of a new coalition forming up within the opposition was too early to conclude.
He said Warisan too is still in contact with leaders from DAP – and to say that cooperation between Sabah DAP and PKR has ended is not entirely true.
However, Chan did not dismiss the possible formation of a fourth or fifth force when the election is near, especially one that revolves around Warisan. – The Vibes, April 24, 2021
