Several urban seats in Johor have a sizable number of voters whose roots come from Sabah, including Permas and Johor Jaya, which are among the six seats Warisan is contesting in.
FMT spoke to some of these Sabahans, mostly Shafie Apdal loyalists, who have been voting in Johor for several general elections now, while on Warisan’s campaign trail.
Dawisa Sakandal, 45, said she had been following Shafie ever since he was in Umno, where he was one of the party’s vice-presidents for two terms, but shifted her support to the opposition with his departure from Barisan Nasional.
She said she was in high spirits after Shafie unveiled Warisan’s candidates for the state elections, motivating her to actively campaign for the Sabah-based party.
“I have never really dived into politics, but (after Warisan’s announcement) I suddenly felt like I wanted to go to the ground and campaign. Before this, I kept track of politics, but I’ve never been so spirited,” she said, proudly waving a Warisan banner during a walkabout.
Dawisa, who hails from Sandakan but has lived in Permas for more than 20 years, said there were many others like her who came from Sabah and had “given birth to a generation here” but were sidelined by the state when it came to certain things.
One issue was that they were not allowed to purchase affordable housing in Johor, as this was reserved for “local” Johoreans, who are recognised based on their identity cards.
“We’re not locals, so we feel isolated. We want our rights to be heard. Through Warisan, we hope that our position in this state will be of equal footing with others,” she said.
One supporter, who asked to be identified as Ali, said he has been following Shafie’s political career since his rise up the ranks in Umno.
The Semporna-born voter, who has been residing in Johor since 1997, said he and his friends could not help but beam with pride when Shafie announced Warisan’s participation in the state polls, saying they would definitely support him as Sabahans.
“Shafie is our leader, so we follow him. When he was in Umno, we supported Umno. When he started Warisan, we supported Warisan. Wherever he goes, we will support him,” he said.
Another Semporna native, who wished to remain anonymous, said she was emotional when Warisan confirmed that it was contesting in the Johor polls, adding that she was excited to meet Shafie during the walkabout.
While she had voted for BN in the past, she maintained that she followed Shafie wherever he went. It was also her first time actively campaigning for a political party, after being encouraged to do so by some friends.
Meanwhile, Sandakan-born Siti Aishah said she used to be a Wanita PKR branch leader in the past, but decided to back Warisan recently as she felt that her former party had strayed from its original struggle.
“What I hope for in a political party is in Warisan. Not looking at race and religion but uniting for the sake of our children’s future,” she said, adding that she was also in Puteri Umno for a while.
Having been in Johor since 2004, the Johor Jaya voter hoped that Shafie’s party would be able to address three key issues in the state – corruption, racism, and the economy.