IN the 13th general election, Shafie Apdal, who was then an Umno vice-president, played a crucial role in Barisan Nasional’s victory in PAS-ruled Kedah.

If not for the former minister’s restructuring of Kedah Umno, the northern state would have likely still be in PAS’ hands.

Now, his supporters believe the Semporna MP will do the same for Sabah, despite his arrest by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission last night.

“There were already signs that the MACC was gunning for him. Shafie’s arrest will only make us more determined to fight for justice,” Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking told The Malaysian Insight last night.

Leiking said this episode will not weaken Warisan and the party will continue to see him as its rightful president, until Warisan is victorious against Barisan Nasional.

Warisan supporters believe that Shafie has a knack for strategy and this intimate knowledge of Sabah’s complex ethnic mosaic and ability to navigate the thorny relations between the different communities will lead him to succeed where others have failed.

They also believe that Shafie and Leiking can be the unifying leaders Sabah sorely needs.

Leiking’s Warisan colleague Junz Wong said if Shafie can recapture Kedah for BN, taking over Sabah would be much easier. (Shafie’s wife is from Kedah.)

“For Sabah, Shafie needs no lessons as he is a Sabahan. He understands Sabah better in terms of geography, demography and the people’s sentiment,” said Wong, who is a Warisan vice-president.

“He knows Sabah inside and out,” Wong told The Malaysian Insight in Kota Kinabalu.

“This is the reason Sabahans will support him,” Wong added.

Track record

BN lost Kedah for the first time in the 12th general election in 2008, along with Perak, Penang and Selangor while PAS hung on to Kelantan.

In GE13, BN recaptured Kedah while Perak returned to BN before the polls due to defections from PKR and DAP. BN’s victory in Kedah was, among others, due to the strategy formulated by Shafie.

The Umno Supreme Council had put Shafie in charge of straightening Kedah Umno, which had been torn apart from in-fighting.

In his short stint as head of Kedah Umno, Shafie restructured the state’s leadership and unified its members.

He also put forth a slate of young faces to contest in the general election, most notably Mukhriz Mahathir, who would go on to become Kedah menteri besar in 2013.

Mukhriz was sacked by Umno and is now the Bersatu deputy president and a Pakatan Harapan leader.

Wong left Sabah DAP last year to join Warisan. He said he only got to know Shafie after the latter resigned from Umno to set up Warisan. The party turned one on Tuesday.

“After working with Shafie for a year. I am truly impressed. I know he can capture Sabah (in the next GE),” said Wong.

Sabah’s geography

Leiking, a former PKR leader, said this was the most opportune time for a leader like Shafie to unite Sabahans to look beyond their ethnic and religious differences.

“We do not want to be divided based on geography and demography. We cannot deny there are walls dividing Sabahans.”

Leiking was referring to Sabah’s three divisions – the east coast, west coast and the interior – that separated the state into ethnic and religious enclaves.

The east coast is dominated by descendants of Filipino ethnic groups like the Suluk, Illanun and Bajau. The interior is populated by the Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) ethnic group who are further divided into sub-groups, such as the Murut, the Orang Sungai and Rungus.

Sabah’s cities, such as Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan, are dominated by the Chinese.

There are about 60 state constituencies in Sabah, with 35 being Muslim-majority seats. There are 18 KDM-majority seats, four Chinese-majority seats and three mixed seats.

The ongoing re-delineation exercise by the Election Commission could see 13 new Muslim-majority seats being added.

Parti Warisan Sabah was formerly known as Parti Pembangunan Warisan Sabah and was established in 2013 by a close friend of Leiking’s.

When Leiking left PKR, he approached Shafie with the new party, after the latter left Umno over his criticism of Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Leiking and Shafie then decided to work together.

The name and logo change of Parti Pembangunan Warisan Sabah to Parti Warisan Sabah was finalised on September 23 last year.

The party boasts that it can capture 48 of the 60 seats in the next elections.

Leiking said Warisan’s rivals have started drumming up racial sentiments to check the party’s spreading influence.

“GE14 should not be determined by racial issues as it will only divide Sabahans.

“When I started off with Shafie, we wanted to break the wall that divides us. We can’t save Sabah as Muslims or Christians,” he said.

“We want to save Sabah as Sabahans.” – October 20, 2017.