Speaking at a press conference here today, the Kota Kinabalu MP said all opposition parties should instead work as a team if they were serious about toppling the current Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
Wong said he was concerned over the stand of local-based Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan), whose president Shafie Apdal has reiterated the party’s intention to stand alone in the coming election.
However, the former rural and regional development minister has said he is willing to work with Pakatan Harapan (PH), a coalition of national-based opposition parties which include DAP. Shafie has also said PH should leave Sabah to Warisan.
“It shows that you (Shafie) are trying to dominate all other parties. Warisan wants to contest alone in Sabah. No one party can win elections, especially this coming election.
“It’s impossible. If Shafie thinks Warisan can do it, that is just his imagination,” he said.
Wong also took Shafie to task for saying that even if DAP wins 100 times, the party will never form the state government.
Warisan, he said, should not be so arrogant because compared to DAP which had a long and sustained history, Warisan was a new and untested party.
Wong added that Warisan should not make too much use of the media to talk to its potential collaborators.
“Instead, let us come together and talk. But come with clean hands,” he said.
The former Sabah DAP chairman said personally, he viewed Warisan’s role as being the same as PPBM’s in the peninsula, which is to attack Umno’s strongholds.
Unfortunately, he said, it seemed that the multiracial party was concentrating its efforts in areas where the other opposition parties were already strong.
Wong added that he was happy that Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS), a Kadazandusun Murut majority party, had openly declared its willingness to work closely with PH.
DAP is friendly with PCS president Wilfred Bumburing, and its leaders have consistently attended the local party’s events since last year.
Bumburing left the local opposition alliance, Gabungan Sabah, in April last year, in favour of a grand alliance which will see the coalition of all opposition parties, including PH and Warisan.
Commenting on Gabungan Sabah, Wong expressed doubt over the characters of its leaders and openly accused the parties of being friendly to BN.
“They don’t want to cooperate with us. So that means they are BN-friendly parties. Those who do not want to cooperate with PH are BN-friendly parties because they are making our efforts to topple the government difficult,” he said.
He reminded local Sabah parties that in the end, what really mattered was who controls Putrajaya and that changing the state government was of little value if those in Putrajaya remain in control.