Parti Warisan: We're no Mahathir proxy party

KOTA KINABALU: Opposition Parti Warisan Sabah is fiercely denying that it is a proxy of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the state as it goes into talks with Sabah Pakatan Harapan for an electoral seat pact.

Warisan Youth chief Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman said that the cautious response to Sabah Pakatan’s offer for their party to lead the Opposition in the state was a clear indication that they were not a proxy of Pakatan chairman Tun Mahathir.  

“If Warisan is a proxy of Tun Mahathir, why would Warisan leaders reject the proposal point blank when it was offered first,” he said in dismissing claims by Sabah Umno that it was a political drama by Warisan.

Warisan had initially rejected a Pakatan offer made through Sabah DAP for Warisan to take 36 of the 60 state seats in exchange for Sabah Pakatan to contest 15 of the 25 Parliament seats in Sabah.

However, Warisan agreed to go into talks when Sabah Pakatan head Christina Liew, who is also the Sabah PKR chief, said that there is no formula on seat sharing imposed and that they all agreed for Warisan to lead the Opposition in Sabah.

The change in stand saw Sabah UMNO describing it as a drama, with the party’s state deputy information chief Datuk Ramlee Marahaban accusing Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal of trying to show that they were in control of seat negotiations with peninsula-based parties.

"Shafie’s party has always been Dr Mahathir’s proxy from the start," Ramlee said. Azis claimed that the events that occurred following the initial rejection of the deal was a clear indication that they were not a proxy of Dr Mahathir.

“It proves that we will never let any party from peninsular Malaysia dictate and tell us what to do,” he said, adding that Ramlee was resorting to desperate politics by calling the incident between Warisan and Pakatan Harapan a drama.

Dr Mahathir is seen politically to be a liability in Sabah as many in the state openly blaming the controversial “Project IC” that saw illegal immigrants getting identity cards on the period when he was Prime Minister.

Sabah Pakatan parties – DAP and PKR- has been cautious in comments on Dr Mahathir being PM designate for Harapan while Shafie himself said that he respected Dr Mahathir as an elder statesman.