All's not well between Amanah and Warisan
Published on: Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: With five more days to go to nomination day, all is still not well with Amanah and Parti Warisan Sabah over seats which the former was not given any to contest in the coming general election.In the latest twist of events, Pakatan Harapan Sabah Chairman Christina Liew had to bear the brunt of State Amanah Chairman Hamzah Abdullah's anger when a front page of a local Chinese daily headlined him accusing her of betrayal.Liew called for a press conference on short notice Monday to clarify, saying she should not be blamed.
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"It says that Hamzah has criticised me, saying I've sold his party out. He also accused me of betraying his party which is our partner because I didn't help him to get seats from Warisan," she said, explaining the daily's report that was published on Monday. Liew said she was surprised by the report because Hamzah did not mention anything to that effect in his speech in Sandakan last weekend."I was there sitting when he was talking on stage. I didn't hear him mention about me betraying Amanah. But I have to say that he was angry. He kept saying why he didn't get the seats. Maybe he said it later in a press conference. I don't know," she said.Liew clarified that she could not interfere in seat discussion between Amanah and Parti Warisan Sabah as it had already been agreed by all the three parties in the State Pakatan Harapan that they would conduct it separately to avoid a multi-cornered fights.
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She said in December last year, the three parties, PKR, DAP and Amanah, had reached an agreement on the number of seats each of the parties will be contesting.Under the PH agreement, Amanah would contest in two state and two parliamentary seats.
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They were Merotai, Bugaya, Kalabakan and Batu Sapi.On January 24 this year, Liew, in her capacity as state chairman of the pact, wrote a letter to Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal proposing a discussion between his party and the three state PH parties separately."It was agreed that each of the three parties would conduct its own discussion with Shafie, which we all did. The DAP was the first to settle (its seats after discussion with Warisan) and then the PKR. But what happened to Amanah, I don't know," she explained.She denied Amanah's accusation that Parti Warisan Sabah, which sealed a pact with PH earlier this month to take on the Barisan Nasional in the election, had put a nose ring on her."It's not true at all. I also deny his accusation that I didn't help him. We had all agreed to discuss with Shafie separately," Liew protested.She further said she understood Hamzah's feelings but suggested that he should be more positive instead of throwing criticisms at others."I hope they can work something out," she said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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