KDM will reject Warisan in protest over Dr M — Rahman
INANAM: Barisan Nasional (BN) Sabah secretary Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan has urged Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal to not hide the appointment of Tun Mahathir Mohamad as Pakatan Harapan’s interim Prime Minister from the people of Sabah.
Abdul Rahman predicted that many of the Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) voters would not vote for Warisan in the 14th General Election (GE14) as their form of protest towards the party for allegedly being Mahathir’s ‘proxy’ in Sabah.
“I can understand their (the KDM voters) rationale. Last time, they never had the chance to express their feelings towards Mahathir. That is why Mahathir does not want to come to Sabah and Sarawak to campaign,” he said, alleging that it was a decision that was made as per the request of Shafie.
“He (Shafie) knows that if he were to bring Mahathir to Sabah, Parti Warisan would lose badly. This is because many people do not agree with Mahathir,” he told reporters when met during an event at Kg Lobou 1.
Abdul Rahman described Shafie’s move as a ‘political lie’ as he had alleged that Warisan opted to hide the fact that they have agreed to the choice of Mahathir as the Prime Minister.
“The least Shafie could do is to be responsible and be brave enough to highlight Mahathir’s presence (in Pakatan Harapan) in the KDM and Chinese areas, so that they (the people) would know that Mahathir is Warisan’s choice for the Prime Minister position.
“Be truthful. Be a gentleman. Do not try to obstruct the view of the people. If you want Tun Mahathir to be the Prime Minister, then I urge Shafie to bring Mahathir to the Chinese and KDM areas. Then only we will know that you (Shafie) do not have any sinister moves,” he said.
He opined that the KDM voters would not relive the Mahathir ‘nightmare’.
“He was a nightmare to them (the KDM) because they were unhappy with many of Mahathir’s programmes and policies back when he was the Prime Minister. Many of (my) KDM friends saw him as a nightmare.
“Since Mahathir had retired, the KDM people never had the chance to express their views and opinions towards him, through their votes. Today, he is out of retirement and many of the KDM people now have the chance to show that they do not appreciate his polices when he was the Prime Minister,” he said.
The selection of Mahathir as Pakatan Harapan’s interim Prime Minister has been met with objections from several quarters, even within the pact itself.
Earlier in the interview, Abdul Rahman, who is also the BN candidate for the Sepanggar parliamentary seat, had disclosed that he will discuss the issue of the proposed gazetting of Kg Lobou 1 with Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Haji Aman.
“Kg Lobou 1 has been a village here for a long time, which was explored long ago when it was still a rubber plantation. If we look at it, this village is indeed very organised. It has a community structure, from the aspect of its leadership and its infrastructure.
“I was informed by Datuk Yakub (BN Sepanggar chief) that this village even has its own water and electricity supply. The only that (it lacks) is for it to be gazetted,” Abdul Rahman said.
“As I have mentioned before, the agenda for BN is of course to fight for the traditional villages that are within the city area. Most of them (the villagers) have sacrificed their land.”
He stressed that helping the traditional villages is one of the agendas of BN, considering the fact that so that many of these villagers had sacrificed so much just for the sake of development. They had also never stopped supporting BN.
“They are the backbones of the government,” he opined.
He agreed that there is a need for the established villages in the state to expedite its gazetting process.