Kota Kinabalu: As Parti Warisan steps up its campaign to return to power, voters are weighing what a change of government could mean for political stability, federal funding and long-running economic projects.
Warisan, led by Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, governed Sabah from 2018 to 2020 before its administration collapsed following defections that triggered a snap election.
“The episode remains in the minds of many Sabahans,” Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (PGRS) Moyog Deputy head Datuk Aminah Ambrose
(pic) said.
“Stability is the one thing Sabahans keep mentioning. People remember how quickly things unravelled in 2020, even though party-hopping involved multiple sides,” she said.
Another concern among critics is whether a Warisan-led government could maintain strong ties with the federal administration.
Sabah, one of Malaysia’s poorest states despite abundant natural resources, she said relies heavily on federal allocations for infrastructure upgrades, including water supply, electricity reliability and the long-delayed Pan Borneo Highway.
“Federal–state alignment matters in Sabah because so many projects are co-funded. Any mismatch could slow negotiations or delay approvals.
“Warisan leaders have repeatedly rejected such concerns, arguing that Sabah must prioritise autonomy under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), regardless of national political dynamics.
“But many see that MA63 has never been prominently championed by Warisan - unlike parties like GRS and Star - until only in this election when the issue as well as Sabah’s 40 per cent revenue took centre stage.
“Shafie when he was a federal Minister was silent like a mouse on the issue.
“Obviously he didn’t want to offend the Prime Minister at the time and all other federal leaders unlike former Foreign Minister Tan Sri Anifah Aman,” said Aminah, a veteran politician.
She said business groups and local contractors say they are uncertain how a new government might treat multibillion-ringgit projects already underway under the incumbent ruling GRS coalition.
“Changes in administration in Sabah often result in policy adjustments, reviews or reprioritization of projects. Some investors worry that political turnover could disrupt timelines.
“Every election brings uncertainty, but in Sabah it is especially pronounced. Continuity is important for things like water upgrades and road expansion,” she said.
On another aspect, she said Sabah’s decades-long challenge of undocumented migration remains politically sensitive.
“Critics of Warisan often portray the party as lenient toward undocumented communities, a claim the party rejects as misinformation.
“Immigration enforcement in Sabah is shared between state authorities and the federal government, meaning no single administration can overhaul policy on its own,” she said.
