Warisan’s tie-up with DAP, PKR anticipated — Harapan Rakyat

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah’s pact with DAP and PKR is an anticipated move, said Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah deputy secretary general Edmund J. Doudilim

Doudilim claimed that it appeared obvious from the start that Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal had never contemplated having any cooperation with any of the Sabah-based opposition parties.

This includes Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) and that its purported ‘merger’ talk with them was just a gimmick and a ‘window dressing’ purportedly to appease the Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) community, albeit momentarily, he alleged.

Doudilim opined that after mocking all the other opposition parties from day one to the extent of insulting some of its leaders, speaks volumes of the character of the man.

“Judging from all his statements and his personal conduct there appear not an iota of sincerity and/or any degree of convictions from him and/or his Warisan party. Shafie is back here more for his own personal goal and clear objectives of becoming Chief Minister.

“He is obviously using the people to his own advantage. He also appears to have surreptitiously ‘hijacked’ the opposition’s issues and purportedly turned it into his own. His previous conduct while still in the government also speaks volumes of this,” claimed Doudilim.

He opined that Umno information chief Tan Sri Annuar Musa’s recent statement appears to confirm this because if the statement is misleadingly fake then Shafie should have countered it in rebuttals (which Shafie apparently did at his press conference on Monday as carried by this paper).

Doudilim in a statement yesterday alleged that Warisan’s pact with DAP and PKR was a certainty from the beginning given the fact that Warisan is the extension of Parti Pribumi Bumiputra Malaysia (PPBM) (which is) ‘Umno-B’ in essence.

Therefore, he reckons that Warisan is PPBM’s proxy in Sabah. In order to make it look and sound good Warisan’s name was used instead, he said adding: “If there is Parti Amanah in Sabah I am more than certain Amanah would have similarly been in the pact.

“The fact is Shafie’s link with Malaya is unbreakable. He would rather work with Malayan-based parties than the locals. This speaks volumes of Shafie’s and Warisan’s Malaya agenda. Apart from becoming the next Chief Minister, the Sabah or Borneo agenda were completely absent from his/ Warisan’s core struggle,” he claimed.

Doudilim reckons given this obvious fact, Sabah and Sabahans will continue to be colonized by Malaya through Shafie and his Warisan in much the same way as what is happening now under Umno team A.

Hence, he alleged Shafie’s coming to Sabah to lead Warisan was not accidental.

“It was a well-planned and deliberate act that will be executed to perfection, unless we Sabahans prevent it from happening. In essence therefore, Shafie and Warisan being a proxy of Mahathir and an extension of PPBM is akin to a wolf covered in sheep’s skin,” he said.

If Sabahans do not want a repeat of the Umno/BN rule in Sabah, then do not support or give Warisan the mandate, he implored.

Instead, give a chance and the benefit of the doubt to local-based parties under Gabungan Sabah which intends to rid Sabah of dominant Malayan political interference that tends to perpetuate the ‘colonialisation’ however innocent it may seem to look.

“Realistically speaking, we can only achieve full autonomy if we are in control of our own political destiny as opposed to being wickedly controlled and manipulated by our ‘colonial masters,” he said.

According to him, with Warisan having a pact with both PKR and DAP and with Shafie having openly declared to be giving ministerial positions to them in the state cabinet, the rot will be certain to continue.

“We are not curing the obvious defects but rather perpetuating the problem further,” he claimed, adding that in Gabungan Sabah, they are fully committed to administer Sabah for the betterment of the people and also eliminating rampant corruption.