‘Pakatan Harapan should listen to Sabah opposition parties’
KOTA KINABALU: Pakatan Harapan should listen to other opposition parties in Sabah if they were serious about forming a pact in the state, Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said.
He said the opposition pact should also be sensible with its promise of creating a deputy prime ministerial post to represent Sabah and Sarawak in the Federal Government.
“If it is serious and wants to form a government, it should hear our input for the manifesto,” said the Bingkor assemblyman when asked on the Sabah Pakatan Harapan manifesto, which among others, promised a deputy prime minister representing Sabah and Sarawak.
“You can’t offer such a thing like the deputy prime ministerial post without restructuring Malaysia, without having a new constitution and without reviewing the Malaysian agreement.
“Are they prepared to review the Malaysian agreement?” he asked.
Yesterday, Sabah Pakatan Harapan unveiled its manifesto despite having no formal pact with other opposition parties in the state.
State Pakatan Harapan chairman Christina Liew had said the pact would start negotiating with other parties in Sabah after its coalition members sorted out issues on seat allocations.
Liew admitted that there were overlapping interests between PKR and DAP, which had been eyeing the same seats, but expressed confidence that the issue could be resolved in Sabah.
She also pointed out that there were parties that Pakatan Harapan might not work with, saying that some parties were not “the real opposition”.
“I know that people will ask us which party we would want to work with.
“Actually, we already have an idea on which party we want to work with, but our doors are always open,” she said at the state Pakatan Harapan Malaysia Day celebration-cum-soft launch of the manifesto.
Present was Pakatan Harapan president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also PKR president.
The six-point “New Deal for Sabah” manifesto also pledges to limit chief ministers to two terms, restore Sabah’s rights and look into the power devolution process.
Liew noted that it might be impossible to have a one-on-one fight in the next election, as there were twelve opposition parties in Sabah.
“Even if we can reach a pact with other opposition parties in Sabah, there would be certain parties that would disagree,” the Api-Api assemblyman said.
Dr Wan Azizah admitted there had been informal talks about the pact, and some parties in the state had come straight to her to conduct negotiations.
She, however, skirted the issue and warned that a disunited opposition coalition would hurt Pakatan Harapan’s chances of winning the 14th General Election.