Warisan and DAP on warpath over GE15 in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: A bitter public fallout between one-time allies Parti Warisan and Pakatan Harapan’s DAP is likely to signal a parting of ways for the two Opposition parties in the 15th General Election (GE15).

The recent war of words between Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke over alliances is a sign of battle lines being drawn, say many observers.

Warisan has been a “friendly” partner to the Pakatan coalition that toppled the then ruling Barisan Nasional government in GE14 in May 2018.

Warisan, led by Shafie, managed to take over the Barisan-led state government with some defections after the election but lost it in the September 2020 snap state election.

The Pakatan Federal Government had fallen earlier the same year.

In their squabble over the last few days, Shafie had made it clear that DAP and other national parties in Pakatan (PKR, Parti Amanah Negara and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) had failed to support Warisan when they were in the Federal Government between 2018 and 2020 to help achieve Sabah rights.

Shafie said DAP’s Lim Guan Eng, who was Finance Minister under Pakatan, could have done more to get Sabah’s 40% revenue issue resolved under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) but merely “gave excuses”.

The observers said it was clear that Warisan and Shafie were no longer keen to court the national parties but preferred to strengthen their Sabah base with local parties, especially Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), to go into GE15.

PBS has so far turned down Warisan’s advances.

Despite all the name-calling and exchange of brickbats between party leaders, there appears to be some signs of a possible truce.Sabah DAP secretary Phoong Jin Zhe and Warisan vice-president Junz Wong both agreed that politics was dynamic and things could change.

Phoong said Sabah DAP’s position remained the same: that it was willing to work with like-minded parties, especially in its quest to stop the comeback of Umno-led Barisan in Sabah.

“Politics is the art of possibilities. As far as Sabah DAP is concerned, we never burn our bridges. Unless Warisan really wants to go solo ... the ball is now in its court,” he said when asked if it was possible to mend bridges with Warisan.

Warisan’s Wong admitted that it was hard to see ahead as “politics is dynamic”.

“My personal view is that, we have to decide whether we are or should be fighting for our political interests or the people’s interests,” he said.