The former top judge made an appearance at the launch of Upko candidate Ewon Benedick’s election machinery here on Saturday.

The Borneo Post reported him saying that the Warisan Plus coalition led by Shafie Apdal had the aim of “restoring the wealth of the state including its rights on oil” as well as giving back native lands to the indigenous community after having been ignored for many years.

“We want local parties who are sincere in their struggle in restoring Sabah’s rights, not those parties who are nominating themselves to create another ‘backdoor’ to allow Umno to once again enter Sabah to control us. Be careful on that,” Malanjum was quoted as saying.

Benedick, the former state rural development minister, is contesting in the Kedamaian seat.

Last month, Malanjum’s name had appeared on a list purportedly of election candidates to be fielded by Warisan. The list was widely circulated on social media, giving rise to talk that he might contest a state assembly seat as a Warisan candidate.

Malanjum was the first East Malaysian to be named as head of the Malaysian judiciary after Pakatan Harapan took control of the federal government in 2018. He retired in April last year.

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