KOTA KINABALU – The rift between opposition parties DAP and Warisan appears to be deteriorating further after Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal was told to end his “hypocrisy”.
Sabah DAP secretary Phoong Jin Zhe said it was unbecoming of the Warisan president to label DAP “arrogant” over its plans to retain three federal seats in Sabah, ahead of talks for political cooperation.
“Any cooperation must be based on mutual respect, principles, and common values,” he said in a statement here today.
The three seats in question are the Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, and Tenom parliamentary constituencies.
Recently, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said his party must be allowed contest the three seats for the opposition, adding the party was open to renewing its political cooperation with Warisan.
Yesterday, Shafie said it was “arrogant” for DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke to set such conditions before talks on political cooperation were held.
Warisan, previously an ally to Pakatan Harapan (PH), has ended cooperation with the alliance after the infamous Sheraton Move but remained supportive of the opposition bloc.
“I find it extremely unfair to accuse DAP as arrogant for defending the seats that we won in GE14,” Phoong said.
“On the contrary, he is the one who has repeatedly turned down the idea of the ‘big tent’ (approach) and even going on to that that say that the PH Plus (alliance) is gone in Sabah. So who is the egoistic and arrogant one now?
Phoong said DAP has extended olive branches to Shafie several times and pledged to cooperate with Warisan to meet the aspirations of the people.
He also said it was “hyprocritical” of Shafie to say the situation was “one-way traffic” as he had turned down offers to discuss cooperation “in a respectful manner”.
“We gave our unwavering and unanimous support to Warisan under Shafie’s leadership, especially during the 2020 Sabah elections, and until today, we never tried to claim any seats that were won by Warisan in 2018 or 2020,” Phoong, who is Luyang assemblyman, said.
“Warisan contested in three DAP incumbent seats in Johor. Earlier, a Warisan supreme council member openly announced that they will be contesting in all three seats in Sandakan. Who is the one being arrogant now?”
Phoong also accused Shafie of making PH allies such as DAP and the United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (Upko) into scapegoats for his “failures” to obtain a majority to form the state government.
He also said it was also hypocritical of Shafie to express interest in a party that was part of the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-Barisan Nasional (GRS-BN), referring Shafie’s interest in cooperating with Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS). – The Vibes, June 8, 2022
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