“I hope Sabahans will not be deceived because even from the beginning, the Shafie-led party has always been Mahathir’s proxy in Sabah,” said Sabah Umno deputy information chief, Ramlee Marahaban.
Ramlee said Shafie had “created a strategy” in which Pakatan Harapan would come up with a formula to work together.
He was referring to the 60:40 formula, based on which Warisan would contest in 60% of the state seats while PH will contest in 60% of the parliamentary seats.
Ramlee said Shafie was trying to “hoodwink” Sabahans by pretending that a Warisan-led state government was free and not beholden to any other party, and to show that a Sabah-based party would be in control in the state.
Ramlee contrasted what he called the “60% drama” with Shafie’s earlier statement that he would not cooperate with West Malaysia-based parties.
“Shafie said he will not work with parties registered in the peninsula because doing so will be the same as with other Barisan Nasional component parties.
“However, maybe the former Umno vice-president heard from the electorate that going solo will not work,” said Ramlee, who is also the Bugaya state assemblyman.
Ramlee said Shafie was willing to change his principles and strategies and use the people for his own personal interests.
“For leaders like Shafie, the people are like balls who must obey wherever they are kicked to. For him, the people are not the decision makers but merely stepping stones to get to his final goal.
“And because he views the people as only the means to an end, once he gets what he desires, the people will be cast aside and even subjected to insults, just like how he insulted Rela members, parents who had difficulties providing for their children’s school equipment and the latest, insulting the Program Umno Bantu Rakyat 2.0,” he said.
Shafie came under fire recently after he criticised the government’s proposal to send Rela members to help shore up defences in Esszone in Sabah’s east coast, saying Rela members were ill-prepared for combat and were only good for directing traffic during events.