While PBS Youth chief Christopher Mandut said the announcement by PPBM chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Friday was expected, he did not think Sabah PKR chief Christina Liew would oppose the decision.

Liew was quoted as saying that PPBM had an agreement with Warisan not to enter the state, and Mahathir’s excuse that his party was foraying into state politics to strengthen its government was surprising.

She claimed that Sabah had flourished under the Warisan administration and that Mahathir’s statement suggested that the state government was weak.

“I don’t understand why Liew is complaining. She claims that the nine-month-old Warisan-led government is doing well, so why should the state government be worried?

“A well-governed administration should not feel threatened by a newcomer like PPBM,” Mandut said.

He, however, said that Mahathir must have felt that something was not right, hence the decision by PPBM to spread its wings to Sabah.

Mandut also said that Sabah’s economy and the situation on the ground had not been the same as what the state government was trying to paint.

In the last nine months, he said, business activities had suffered because people were not spending.

“The absence of welfare aid like the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) and the drop of commodity prices have badly affected the rakyat. People are complaining,” he said.