Warisan willing to work with Muda, says Shafie

KOTA KINABALU: After recently disassociating itself from the Pakatan Harapan coalition, Parti Warisan Sabah says it will be willing to work with the yet-to-be-registered Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda), headed by Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman.

Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, in a radio talk show appearance Wednesday (April 7), reiterated Warisan's stand to disassociate itself from Pakatan and said that the Opposition should look beyond the politics of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

"It is no longer the time of Anwar or Dr Mahathir," he said, adding that the country should not be looking along narrow racial, religious or regional political lines but should focus on building the nation for the people.

Shafie also said that they needed an alliance and would be willing to work with leaders from Muda, among others, to unite people through multi-racialism.

"We cannot confine politics to the narrow needs of race or religion or just Sabah and Sarawak," he said.

Sabah DAP secretary Chan Foong Hin, however, did not see Warisan's disassociation from Pakatan as a move to create a third force.

He said that Opposition parties such as Warisan, Muda and Dr Mahathir's Parti Pejuang Tanah Air were not considered as a "third force".

"I don't think they (Warisan) have decided to go on their own.

"It's normal for any party to make general statements such as 'willing to work with any party which shares a similar agenda'," said Chan, adding that DAP and Warisan were often in communication and held inter-party meetings.

Shafie, on Monday (April 5), said the party was ending its informal association with the national Pakatan Harapan coalition.

However, he said Warisan could not work alone and would need to work with national parties to form the next government.

It is still not clear what Warisan's position is with its Pakatan partners in Sabah and Upko, which lost the state government in the snap Sept 26 state election last year. The Sabah coalition was informally known as Warisan Plus.

Sabah Pakatan chairman Datuk Christina Liew has yet to comment on the issue.