Politics: Warisan to spread its wings to Peninsular Malaysia

Shafie giving speech during a youth gathering in Kota Kinabalu in 2020.

WITH the defection of three assemblymen and an MP, the Sabah-based Parti Warisan is seen to be losing ground in its home base. But with its move to enter national politics, the party might be gaining ground in Peninsular Malaysia.

On Friday (Dec 17), the party, with eight MPs and 19 assemblymen, will officially spread its wings to Peninsular Malaysia.

"The party is moving to the Peninsular as there's a strong call on the ground here for the party's Sabah election campaign, which was on unity," said Dr Rajiv Bhanot, a Subang Warisan leader.

Dr Bhanot referred to Warisan's "In God We Trust, Unite We Must" campaign during last year's snap state polls which the party narrowly failed to retain the Sabah government.

The electorate Warisan, which is popular with the major races in Sabah such as Bajau, Suluk and Chinese but viewed suspiciously by the bulk of the Kadazandusun voters, is targeting in Peninsular Malaysia are moderate and centrist Malaysians.

"They will be the more informed voters who are not going to be afraid to move away from race-based politics," said Dr Bhanot.

The party is going for the same support base of Pakatan Harapan that won GE14 in 2018. Is it on a collision course with its former Pakatan allies?

According to Dr Bhanot, it is too early to say as the party wants to focus on consolidating its strength beyond its Sabah stronghold.

"Then, when we are in a position of strength, we will look at which party we want to collaborate with," he said.

But Warisan's Peninsular Malaysia ambition is ruffling the feathers of Pakatan parties as it is likely it will contest against PKR and DAP in their strongholds.

Even in Sabah, DAP is wary of whether Warisan is eyeing its Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tenom MP seats.

Warisan isn't the first Sabah-based party to contest outside of the state. In 1995, Parti Bersatu Sabah fielded candidates in Johor and Penang, but the voters rejected them.

So how will Warisan perform in Peninsular Malaysia?

Their entry into national politics might be the right timing because of "rebound politics".

It is a term that I coined to describe how Pakatan broke the hearts of its supporters when it's 22-months in power did not bring the hope of change. These voters are on a rebound and are looking for a party to fall in love with.

With the right strategy, Warisan, led by former Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, may be able to woo "broken-hearted" Malaysians.

Dr Bhanot contends that the low voter turnout in last month's Melaka polls shows that the public suffers from political fatigue.

"The perception of opposition voters was that GE14 was between the good guys and the bad guys. But at the moment, they are a very confused bunch. We are hoping to be a fresh choice," he said.

To do better than PBS outside of Sabah, Warisan needs to build support from the ground up.