Sabah Umno Zone 6 secretary Ainal Fattah told FMT he could give at least 10 reasons why he believes Shafie and his party colleagues were making empty promises just to get Sabahans to vote for them.
He said Shafie had broken the long-standing convention of collective cabinet responsibility when he openly challenged the policy of the federal government while being the rural and regional development minister in 2015, Ainal said.
He said this left Prime Minister Najib Razak with no choice but to remove him.
“Shafie, who was elected by Umno delegates as the party’s vice-president, also betrayed their trust by leaving the party without notice and with no valid reason,” Ainal said.
He said as Semporna MP, Shafie also betrayed the faith placed in him by Semporna folk who voted for him as a representative of Barisan Nasional and Umno.
Ainal also claimed that Shafie had betrayed not only his voters, but also his own uncle and former Sabah governor Sakaran Dandai, who was the person responsible for Shafie’s position and status in Umno.
“Shafie is now trying to mislead Sabahans by campaigning and causing disunity among the people by using the slogan ‘Sabahans for Sabah’.
“People do not forget that before he was dropped from the federal cabinet, Sabahans rarely saw him here because he was always in the peninsula as his family was in Kedah,” he said.
Ainal also accused all Warisan assemblymen and MPs of betraying their voters by hopping from their parties to the new party.
He said they should have resigned as elected legislators and left it to the electorate to decide if they still wanted them, instead of jumping to Warisan.
“Nevertheless, since the general election is around the corner, it is the wish and desire of the Sabah people to replace these party-hoppers. Their days are numbered,” he said.
Shafie quit Umno in 2016 after having been suspended, together with former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, over their criticism of Najib and the 1MDB controversy.
He later formed Warisan, a new opposition party focused on Sabah and quickly generated support with many state PKR and DAP leaders joining his party, including Penampang MP Darell Leiking and Likas state assemblyman Junz Wong.