Responding to Warisan’s announcement on Monday that it had officially finalised its seat distribution arrangement with Sabah PH, Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah president Lajim Ukin said Warisan no longer had Sabah’s rights at heart.
“Their claim that they’re a local party championing Sabah’s rights no longer holds water because they’ve made a pact with PH, a peninsular coalition,” Lajim told FMT.
“We, on the other hand, in Gabungan Sabah truly have a Sabah and Borneo agenda to fight for.
“I think the door to negotiations with Warisan is now closed despite all these years of our willingness to talk with them about this matter.
“Now, we’ll fight all of them, PH or Barisan Nasional (BN), who aren’t in Gabungan, in the upcoming general election.”
Gabungan Sabah is a local opposition coalition of which Lajim’s party is a component. The other parties are Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), STAR and Parti Perpaduan Rakyat Sabah.
Lajim, who is the opposition leader in the state assembly, said if PH forms the federal government, Warisan would no longer have the nerve to champion Sabah’s rights.
“In PH, there are DAP, PKR, PPBM and Amanah. All of them have a peninsular agenda, so where’s Warisan’s fight for Sabah’s rights?” the Klias assemblyman said.
“On the other hand, if we form the state government, we’ll have the power to dictate to the federal government what Sabah and Sabahans want under all the relevant provisions, including the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the Federal Constitution.”
Lajim, a former Sabah deputy chief minister, added that Warisan was arrogant and liked to accuse other local parties of being in cahoots with the ruling coalition.
“I’d like to challenge Warisan to lay down proof that Gabungan has another agenda or has received money from BN as claimed.”
Shafie made the announcement on his pact with PH during a press conference after a Warisan meeting here but declined to give details on its seat negotiations.
Wilfred Bumburing, president of local opposition party Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS), also criticised Warisan, saying it was trying to get the bulk of seats in its deal with other parties.
Shafie, however, denied this, saying he did not know where Bumburing had got his information that Warisan was eyeing 42, or 72%, of the state seats.
Meanwhile, Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking was unfazed by Lajim’s remarks, saying his party never had any intention of joining Gabungan.
“All this while, we’ve been focusing on working out a cooperation pact with DAP and PKR and also PCS. But PCS, a race-based party, wants to contest in all Kadazandusun Murut seats, which would be a problem for us.
“So, it doesn’t matter if Gabungan has closed its doors to us because Warisan has been consistent that we’ve never had any intention to join their pact.
“If we don’t consider a door as being open for us in the first place, we don’t mind if it’s closed now.”
Warisan, Sabah PH seat negotiations a done deal, says Shafie
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