PH can win 12 parliament seats in Sabah — Chan

KOTA KINABALU: Wresting 10 to 12 parliamentary seats in Sabah is possible with the Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) electoral pact, said Sabah PH policy and manifesto director Chan Foong Hin.

Chan said Warisan was expected to retain the Semporna and Penampang parliamentary seats, while Democratic Action Party (DAP) the Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan parliamentary seats.

He said the opposition alliance might win the Batu Sapi, Tawau, Sepanggar and Putatan parliamentary seats.

Chan, who is also the secretary of Sabah DAP, said PH and Warisan have garnered a certain degree of support in Chinese, Muslim bumiputera and mixed constituencies.

He believed that the Kadazandusun voters would follow suit when the PH-Warisan alliance set off a huge opposition wave in the Muslim bumiputera and Chinese constituencies.

With the additional support from Kadazandusun constituencies, Chan is confident that the opposition alliance could achieve its goal of securing 10 to 12 parliamentary seats.

He added that Pakatan Rakyat (now PH), had nearly won the Kota Marudu, Pensiangan, Keningau and Tenom parliamentary seats.

He said the opposition lost the four seats because the opposition parties could not come to a consensus, therefore splitting the opposition votes.

“We hope to see a more united vote for the PH-Warisan pact in this coming election to avoid splitting the votes.”

Chan said the PH-Warisan pact could elevate the parties as mainstream opposition alliance to wrest 12 parliamentary seats to enable a change of government in Putrajaya.

He speculated that PH could secure 100 parliamentary seats in West Malaysia.

With Sabah and Sarawak’s opposition contributing 12 and eight parliamentary seats respectively, Chan believed that the opposition could form a strong federal government.

DAP has announced that the party would be contesting three parliamentary and seven state seats in Sabah. This includes Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tenom parliamentary seats; and Kapayan, Luyang, Bingkor, Likas, Elopura, Tanjung Papat and Sri Tanjung state seats.

It was also reported that Sabah Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) was expected to contest six parliamentary seats, namely Ranau, Pensiangan, Tuaran, Tawau, Putatan and Beaufort, as well as nine state seats, including Api-Api, Kuala Penyu, Matunggong, Moyog, Tamparuli, Inanam, Kadamaian, Tempasuk and Karanaan.

That leaves Warisan with 16 parliamentary and 44 state seats in Sabah.

Based on the seat allocation, does it mean PH is concentrating its efforts in West Malaysia instead of Barisan Nasional’s (BN) fixeddeposit states, namely Sabah and Sarawak?

Chan stressed that PH has never given up on Sabah.

He said PH had found a likeminded comrade among the opposition and was in the process of coordinating the seats.

Chan said PKR had been working hard in Muslim bu mi put era majority constituencies in the past, particularly in the east coast, yet was unable to achieve a desirable outcome.

He said Warisan, a strong force in Muslim bumiputera-majority constituencies, could shoulder many of the state seats.

He said DAP had undeniably given up some of its traditional seats in Sabah, but the party was focusing on Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau areas, as well as expanded to Tenom and Keningau in the interior.

“The traditional DAP strongholds are not affected.”

On another note, Chan said Warisan had reached an agreement with PKR for Warisan to contest the Putatan and Sepanggar parliamentary seats.

He said PKR had made huge compromises to achieve the common goal of toppling BN in Sabah in GE14.