WARISAN is unperturbed by the political pact between Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) and Parti Anak Negeri (PAN), saying ousting the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) regime in Sabah remains the main goal of the opposition in Sabah.   

Warisan president Shafie Apdal admitted the party had been in discussions with PCS about working together, but due to the turn of events, he would now leave it to the supporters to decide whether the party should forge an electoral pact with any KadazanDusun Murut (KDM) party. 

“It is his (PCS president Wilfred Bumburing’s) right to form a pact with any party. 

“We can’t stop them from working with PAN, but our utmost priority is that the state government is taken over by Sabahan leaders from a Sabah party,” he said in Sepanggar, today. 

PCS was in talks to form an electoral pact with Warisan and Pakatan Harapan when PCS suddenly decided to team up with PAN led by former PBS secretary Henrynus Amin on March 16.

PCS and PAN are perceived to be making a move for all the 22 KadazanDusun Murut seats in the state, and the pact has become a source of rift between PCS and Warisan. 

PCS president Bumburing was previously reported saying that no party should claim dominance over another party, and no party should contest more than half the seats, in an apparent outburst at Warisan. 

Bumburing told The Malaysian Insight recently that his party was only given six seats to contest in the next polls. 

Shafie said it was unfair that only KDM parties could contest the KDM seats, adding that he also had the interest of the KDM leaders in Warisan in mind when he said this.

“We have already negotiated and Bumburing told me he wants to contest all the 22 KDM seats. 

“But what am I to do with my deputy president Darell Leiking and my vice-president Peter Anthony, who are also KDM leaders?

“I don’t know how Bumburing arrived at the figure of six seats. In fact,  I don’t know how Bumburing even got to know know he was getting six seats.

“Nothing has been finalised yet. So how can we talk of divorce when we have yet to get married?” said Shafie in reference to the electoral pact.

He said his primary concern was the direction the opposition should take if the KDM parties were allowed to contest all KDM seats. 

Shafie said such a move would only strengthen the ruling coalition, which sought to rule by division.

“What if the opposition KDM elected representatives decide to jump ship? Even if the opposition forms the next state government, the government is bound to collapse if Sabahans continue to be divided by race,” said Shafie, adding that multi-racial party candidates were the way forward. – March 18, 2018.