Don’t rock the boat, Sabah PH warns Warisan
Published on: Friday, December 17, 2021
By: FMT
.jpg "Don’t rock the boat, Sabah PH warns Warisan")
Sabah Pakatan Harapan says Warisan leaders should stop attacking its memorandum of understanding with the government.
Kota Kinabalu: A Sabah Pakatan Harapan (PH) leader has warned that the coalition may need to look for other partners than Warisan to face the elections if it continues to work against the “unity” in the opposition bloc.
Sabah PH secretary Mustapha Sakmud said this after recent remarks from Warisan leaders that criticised its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the federal government.
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Mustapha said Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking’s speech on the MoU and the subsequent attack by the party’s information chief, Awang Ahmad Sah Sahari, on PH secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail were a form of “provocation”.
He said Leiking’s speech, as reported in the media, and the subsequent statement by Awang which criticised Saifuddin only opened up room for political polemics that will weaken the cooperation of the opposition parties led by PH.
“These statements only work to undermine the efforts of PH, which is the people’s hope in ensuring the country’s political stability,” Mustapha, who is also the Sabah PKR deputy chief, said in a statement today.
“We would like to remind Warisan that political cooperation at the state and national levels is crucial to continue the reform and change agenda.”
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He said the PH leadership had given enough space for Warisan to “translate the idealism of the Sabah people’s struggle” in the state legislative assembly and Parliament.
“All this while, we have remained silent to ensure that our unity and strategic cooperation can be maintained for the good of the people of this country and the state.
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“If Warisan continues with its efforts against this unity, then PH needs to re-evaluate this cooperation by planning and implementing new strategies ahead of the next general election,” he said.
At Warisan’s annual general meeting last week, Leiking was reported to have said that PH had yielded to Putrajaya after signing the MoU, and that this had allowed the government to create “antagonistic racial issues”.
The Penampang MP also claimed that many PH MPs were unhappy with the MoU.
This triggered a response from Saifuddin, who told Leiking to read the agreement first instead of playing the race card.
Awang then took a shot at Saifuddin, claiming his rebuke of Leiking was akin to not respecting Warisan’s stand on the MoU.
Mustapha rejected such a notion, saying PH respected the decision by Warisan and other opposition MPs in not wanting to be directly involved in the MoU.
He said the PH leadership had never pressured or mocked Warisan leaders for not signing the agreement.
“The PH leadership opened up the space for the Warisan leadership to consider the MoU for the benefit of the people,” he said.
He also said this was the same approach the coalition took at the state level when Sabah PH submitted the Sabah Reform Agenda (SRA) to the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah government.
“We discussed openly with Warisan’s top leaders and clearly explained the justification for the proposal and requested due consideration.
“We respect the views of the Warisan leadership not to get involved, while PH Sabah is continuing its mission to submit the SRA to the chief minister.
“There is no reason for us to push, let alone ridicule Warisan because we believe in the politics of values and maturity for the good of the people in this state,” he said.
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