Warisan has talented, capable leaders to govern Sabah – Shafie

SEMPORNA: Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal is confident that the candidates fielded by his party would be able to give a strong challenge to the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 14th general election (GE14).

He also said these capable new leaders would be able to govern Sabah much better than the BN after the election.

According to Shafie, Warisan can be considered to be the strongest local-based party in Sabah with close cooperation and interaction of its party members of different ethnics. The party has been able to resolve matters of concern through negotiation and cooperation, unlike the BN which only knows how to talk.

Shafie assured that the Warisan election machinery at each district will assist and work together with the respective candidates from Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the People's Justice Party (PKR) to ensure a resounding win.

“Since 55 years of Malaysia's independence, the BN has not fulfilled all its promises to the people and now it is coming out with more promises,” he said.

For instance in Tawau, he said many companies and shops had closed down permanently because of income tax and the impact of the Goods and Service Tax (GST).

Shafie said this to the media after having high tea with DAP Sri Tanjong candidate Jimmy Wong Sze Phin in Semporna yesterday.

“We will not die if we change the government and it will also not mean that Sabah's development will be disrupted. In fact, Sabah will be more developed without the BN.

“We can also see there has been no injection of new blood from the list of BN candidates, unlike Jimmy Wong and me, which can be said to be part of new faces in Sandakan, Elopura and Tanjung Papat.

“We have talented and capable candidates in our leadership line-up to govern Sabah,” Shafie reiterated.

As for the likelihood of a Malay tsunami, he opined that not all the Malays support BN or Umno because of the changes that have taken place.

When asked about Datuk Seri Najib Razak's visit to Tawau again to meet the people yesterday, he claimed the Prime Minister feared the strong Warisan challenge in Sabah.

Meanwhile, Jimmy has assured that the people in Sabah will enjoy the same welfare treatment like in Selangor and Penang once Pakatan Harapan forms the government.

He said with a new government, the people in Sabah will receive good welfare treatment starting from birth until death unlike the Barisan Nasional (BN) which is imposing the six percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) starting from a newborn until death.

“As the present government does not have money to improve the basic facilities in Sabah, the people have suffered from water and power supply disconnections since many years ago,” he claimed.

Jimmy said he had received many complaints from the people in Tawau over water and power supply disconnections for two weeks. Some had encountered internet and home phone disconnection but Telekom Malaysia had informed him that it may be caused by the cables being stolen.

He said he strongly feels that this is the best time for the people to change the government and bring back the glory to Sabah.