THE last few days have been deja vu for Darell Leiking as events culminate in the arrest and remand of his boss, Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) president Shafie Apdal.

Shafie was yesterday remanded for four days under an anti-graft probe into the embezzlement of funds meant for rural projects while he was rural and regional development minister.

For Leiking, formerly with PKR and now the Warisan deputy president, it brought back the familiar sense of being the underdog against the Barisan Nasional federal government.

“Having served alongside Anwar Ibrahim during my tenure in PKR and seen a similar modus operandi by BN against Anwar, and now Shafie, has only affirmed my belief that the BN regime is afraid of change,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Anwar, de facto PKR leader, is serving a five-year prison sentence for a second sodomy charge, which opposition politicians say was politically motivated.

Leiking said Warisan, though bruised by the arrests of Shafie and other leaders is undeterred and will keep up the fight to “free Sabah from racial and religious divide”, which is the result of “indoctrination” by the BN government.

He said the party was, however, not formed solely to free Sabah from the racial and religious divide, but to restore the rights of Sabah and the Sabahans under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

At the same time, Leiking feels the lure of the calmer life of a businessman, especially if racial politics should win the day in Sabah. 

The 14th general election will likely be his last if he loses his Penampang parliamentary seat because of what he says is a racist campaign against him and Warisan.

“If I lose, I don’t think I will try to make a comeback. Some are using the race and religious card to make sure I won’t win, and I don’t want that.

“If I were to lose because I was lazy or not good at my work, I would be able to accept it as it means I have failed in my duties.

“But if I were to lose because of working with ‘other races’, I would not accept it. I would know I have lost for trying to unite Sabahans,” he said.

Warisan is a rebrand of Parti Pembangunan Warisan Sabah established by a close friend of Leiking in 2013.

After Shafie resigned from Umno in July last year, Leiking approached the former Umno vice-president and proposed that they work together to fight for the rights of the people of Sabah.

Warisan’s name change, registration and its new “ship” logo was approved by the Registrar of Societies on October 17 last year.

Shafie is Warisan president and Leiking is his number two.

Penampang is a majority non-Muslim Bumiputera seat known as the cradle of the Kadazan Dusun Murut community. There has been “coffeeshop talk” that Leikng is working with a “parti suluk” (suluk party) and “parti lanun” (pirate party).

The Suluk are an ethnic group in Sabah who often unfairly stereotyped as illegal immigrants and criminals.

Leiking claimed that these remarks were spread by members of Barisan Nasional and rival opposition parties who “want to win the election by creating disunity among the community”.

BN component party, United Pasokmomogun Kadazan Organisation (Upko) has denied playing the race card against Leiking, warning that it will take him to court over such false allegations.

No one, including members of his former party PKR, had thought that Leiking would win the Penampang seat in the 13th general election.

He dethroned Upko president Bernard Dompok, a two-term federal cabinet minister and the Sabah chief minister in GE13.

Leiking trounced Dompok with a 13,000-vote majority and a year later Dompok announced his retirement from politics and party. Leiking was then appointed a PKR vice-president.

The 46-year-old University of Hertfordshire law graduate is a father of three and owns a law firm in  Kota Kinabalu.

In an interview with The Malaysian Insight, he explains his reasons for leaving PKR to establish Warisan, and his views on politics.

Q: What have you learnt since you joined politics?

A: People who grew together with my legal practice are now shying away from me. I think I have some “disease-lah”… it was called Reformasi at one time, and Sabah Ubah disease now. 

I think they are scared. They are afraid to be seen with the opposition. In Sabah, when you are aligned with the opposition, people might think that you are against the establishment. You will be seen as impartial and too partisan at the same time.

For businessmen, it will become a problem. I know a businessman who supported me a lot during the last GE. He came to see me after GE13 and told me that the state government was giving him a lot of problems with licence approvals. He asked me do I mind if he didn’t want to be seen with me.

To me, a friend is a friend, a business is a business. Politics should never in any way affect how we live our lives. How we manage our friends has nothing to do with politics, as well. Politics entail
losing the closeness and proximity of your family and friends.

Q: Do you mind people shunning you like that?

A: I don’t mind. I would like to say I understand them. I put myself in their shoes: would I do the same? I don’t think so, but that’s me.

They are many people who are braver who say that they don’t care. There are friends and clients who still walk into my office. 

Ordinary folk seem to be more at ease, those who actually have more to lose than these people (the businessmen) because they are struggling in life, going through tough times yet they are there (with me).

But there are businessmen as well who are still with us in this movement. They don’t mind and they don’t care. I think a lot more of them will surface after the dissolution of the Parliament and the state assembly.

People are trying to compare me by saying that Darell is a “frog”. Don’t embarrass the frog. It is a smart animal. I’d rather be called stupid than “frog” because I am still on the same side (opposition) looking at the same Barisan Nasional.

Q: What do you mean by stupid?

A: PKR is already a brand name, and I am now here starting all over again. While explaining my cause and mission, I still have to justify why I had left PKR. People accused me of receiving pecuniary interest, money… which I wish I had. Hahaha!

I guess we are always made to fight. But now we are not only fighting but we have been told to prepare to be the administrator. I have to manage my team.

Q: How do you explain your move from PKR to Warisan?

A: I have never heard (PKR president) Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail nor any other national party leaders who are angry with me except the local leaders.

When I left PKR to be with Warisan, I was accused of being a “katak” (frog). Can you imagine those who attacked me are my political nemesis whose very party was founded by “katak.”

Q: You have been accused of being anti-Islam.

A: I have been misinterpreted all the time on this particular subject. My position is, I don’t want to question Islam, like anybody who does not want their own faith questioned.

We created the Federation (of Malaysia) under difficult circumstances, when everybody wanted to impose their views… I want this, I want that.

But there was one common view when it came to the question of religion: we respect the position of Islam as the official religion of the Federation but the people are free to practise other faiths.

So when someone says “we are committed to make Malaysia an Islamic state”, like (Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department) Asyraf Wajdi did, it goes beyond what was agreed upon then. 

I never said I was against Islamisation, I merely disagreed with what Asyraf said.

Even the founders of the Federation never said that Malaysia could be an Islamic state, like Saudi Arabia and other (Islamic) countries. 

We are unique in the sense that we have shariah courts which are parallel to the civil courts. This is how we are and we should not change it. That is my position.

By pushing for an Islamic state, it changes the whole makeup of the Federation.

Q: What is your interpretation of an Islamic state?

A: To me, an Islamic state means that shariah laws have prominence, like in Brunei. In our case, how do we go there when we began with a different set of laws and rules.

Q: What if that were to be the situation one day?

A: Then it would be time for us to rethink our position in the Federation. It is already bad enough that the Sabahans, as well as the Sarawakians, are making noise about what should have been their rights, and now they are pushed this to another level. You open a new battleground.

As Malaysians we may need to relook this. I would take that position. It is not the party position at the moment. It is my position because I am also a lawyer and I look at what was agreed.

I even look at whether the 1963 agreement is still valid, but that is another story. For now I take the agreement as being valid because everybody now is talking about the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

Q: Would you push the party to adopt that position?

A: I think the time will come for us to really discuss this internally. For now, we are committed to the party, just as in Warisan constitution, to enforce the MA63. But when it comes to a clear position on whether we should look into where we are today (in the context of MA63), we can only say it when we are in the government.

When we are in the government, we hope to have the backing of the majority of the assemblymen. The decision cannot be made by the chief minister but the state assembly. The assemblymen have to go back to the people to ask what do they want and go back to the assembly and debate it. 

Only then can we put forward a position whether we want to remain or otherwise. Catalonia has done it. Scotland has tried and now is trying again. But did you see anybody arrested (there) over the matter?

For us, the rising issues that affect us most is religion and the distribution of wealth.

Q: Why are we hearing a lot of resentment over MA63 now?

A: There are many issues. But some people are too emotional and create hate by blaming Semenanjung (Peninsular Malaysia) for everything. I disagree with that approach. To me, I want to look at our own people who made the wrong decisions that kept us to where we are today.

I don’t want to point fingers at anybody. But look at what BN as the central government does. Whenever someone who speaks up, they will go after him.

If the person is corrupt, please, by all means. But if the person is victimised and the narrative is created just to show the person is corrupt, then it is wrong.

Q: Everybody is talking about MA63, even Umno and BN. Why do you think it is being played up now?

A: When they talk about the 20 Points, they do not understand what they are talking about. It is not about the 20 Points. It is about the Agreement in 1963. BN talks about it today because it has become the most talked about issue among every Sabahan and Sarawakian.

Whether they understand it or embrace it, I don’t know… just like Pakatan Harapan.

Pakatan Harapan said they will offer the post of deputy prime minister, renegotiate the agreement and blah, blah, blah. I am not questioning the offer. I just want to know whether they are making those offers because they want to win the election or because they think we deserve them.

If you really believe with conviction that those are our rights, they should be given to us because they are our rights, and not as an afterthought.

Q: The original agreement is not honoured and now PH is talking about renegotiating a new deal. What is your comment?

A: The agreement did not say anything about the position of a deputy prime minister. It was shared responsibility over the Federation. But why stop at deputy premiership? If you really want to talk about this don’t go half way.

Q: What are the immediate issues that Warisan is looking at?

A: I am not even talking about the 20 Points. I am talking about the provisions in the agreement and the Inter Governmental Report that have not been fulfilled, for instance the new Constitution was never created or passed (by the Parliament); we remain with the old Constitution.

Under Article 160, the Federation of Malaysia still refers to the Federation that was created in 1957. There was no Malaysia in 1957 but it is still in our Constitution.

This goes back to your earlier question. The political parties are using these issues because they are popular. But do they really understand it? Do they understand that by enforcing MA63, it will
change the whole dynamics of our country?

And, this includes honouring our entitlement to the net revenue collected by the federal government from Sabah.

This is also one of the reasons why I left PKR and pursued my political path with Warisan. I don’t want my friends in Semenanjung to keep defending me for my stand, because when we talk about MA63, it changes the pattern of the whole Federation.

Q: Is Warisan looking at a post-election pact?

A: That narrative was created by BN, which is you must have a coalition or a pact before election. It is actually the BN narrative. If I were BN, that is also what I would do.

Q: What is Warisan’s narrative?

A: Exactly what you have said, but we have to be politically savvy. We will work with good parties. What to do? I personally don’t like it because it changes our narrative but the public has been indoctrinated to think that the only way to win an election is to have a pact.

Q: So, is Warisan looking at a post-election coalition?

A: We will work with some oppostion. That is all that I can say now. Before the election or during the election.

After election is a different story altogether, because the shape of the things to come depend on the number of seats that you are going to contest, whether you can win the seats or not. If we happen to win the seats, we would already have the pact. So, it (will be decided) before or during the election.

Q: Analysts say that Warisan has a strong chance of winning the east coast.

A: That’s what they say.

Q: You are seen as representing the west coast. How many seats do you think you can deliver for Warisan?

A: It is very difficult for me to say. I want to be as honest as I can be. I have been criticised for ‘creating’ a fake wall between East Coast and West Coast of Sabah. But there is a wall that has divided us all these years where the east coast is the east coast, the west coast is the west coast, and there is also the interior.

That is why you have been hearing very much about Suluk, orang sana (east coast); KDM, orang sini (west coast). That wall was created by political leaders who have no confidence in themselves. Creating a race-based movement creates isolation and that works for them (BN).

That is why a lot of BN political parties in Sabah are happy with three seats (LDP) or four seats (Upko), or even one seat (PBRS). They are very happy. They think they can change the world with just one seat. They are destroying Sabah’s social fabric.

I don’t believe in compartmentalising political movements. We are all Sabahans. The other political parties mistake our slogan. We never said “Sabah for Sabahans”. We said “Sabahans for Sabah”.

Why? “Sabahans for Sabah” means I want us to start asking what can I do for Sabah, not what Sabah can do for me. How can I ask my state to take care of me when the state is in a mess? 

Q: There is talk that you are losing ground in Penampang because you, a KDM, are working with the Suluk?

A: If I lose ground on the basis of me as a person, I would be probably be worried. But if I lose ground because they say I work with “the other kind”, I don’t mind losing because I stand to unify Sabahans. If the people go against me on the premise of religion and race, then it is not my fault but theirs.

I would rather lose because they say Darell ini “pemalas” (is lazy), Darell “ini tidak pandai buat kerja” (not good at what he does). I don’t  mind losing like that because it means I have failed. This is the same tactics they used against me in the last GE. They said that I was working with orang Malaya, with Anwar Ibrahim, dihambakan oleh orang Melayu (enslaved by Malays).

I have never not been attacked for working with the “other kind”. Most of these people who are saying that are the Kadazans. BN and some Opposition parties.

They go almost everyday like that against me. In coffeeshops, there are people pointing at me, in Kadazan they say, you are destroying our race because I am working with Shafie Apdal.

When I was with Anwar, they said I worked with Melayu, “dihambakan oleh Melayu”. So now, my own Sabahans say I am working with the Suluk. 

Q: What should be considered by the Sabahans when they go to the polls?

A: Which party has a possibility of forming a government on its own. And then you go further: Which party goes beyond race and religion, and beyond all.

Shafie Apdal is a Muslim but his deputy is a Christian. But we don’t look at at each other as Muslim or Christian, as Bajau or Kadazan. We look at ourselves as Sabahans.

We can no longer navigate Sabah using race or religion, using demography or geography. We have to navigate Sabah as Sabahans.

Our common mission is to create Sabah into being what it should have been after September 16, 1963.  – October 21, 2017.