Speaking during the closing of a Malaysia Day forum held by Upko here today, the Parti Warisan Sabah president disclosed that Tangau did not ask for personal favours when the former contacted him a day after the May 9 polls.
He said Tangau expressed his intentions to form the government with Warisan and its Pakatan Harapan allies PKR and DAP to oust the former Barisan Nasional ruling coalition.
“When he called me during the early stages (following the 14th general election), he did not ask for position, rank or projects.
“He said ‘Datuk Seri, we want to form the government with you’… he didn’t ‘jump’. He is not like (Sabah opposition leader) Jeffrey (Kitingan) or (Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah president) Lajim (Ukin),” Shafie said, to applause from the floor.
He added: “He called me up and spelled it out quite clearly. He said this is the opportunity for us to kick Umno and BN out of Sabah and I told him by all means please, come over.”
Shafie said he not only named Tangau as the deputy chief minister but also the minister in charge of trade and industry to industrialise Sabah and bring more job opportunities to its people.
Tangau led an Upko group comprising high-ranking leaders to Shafie’s residence on the morning of May 10 to pledge support for Warisan, hours before he announced his party’s departure from BN.
He said that they had decided to quit BN to ensure continuance in the party’s struggle for the Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) community.
The move, however, did not go down well with the public, many of whom labelled Tangau and his party as “frogs”.
Upko won five of the six state seats allocated to it and also secured its sole parliamentary seat through Tangau who won in Tuaran.
The seat allocation for Sabah BN component parties were: 32 for Umno, 13 for PBS, six for Upko, one for PBRS, two for MCA, four for LDP and two for Gerakan.
Meanwhile, Shafie said he appreciated Upko’s efforts to regularly hold events like the Malaysia Day forum.
“It is important for us to ensure voices on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 are heard because if they are not, it will not only affect us but also the future generations,” he said.