‘Bersatu move to strengthen Shafie’

Kuala Lumpur: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) has agreed to spread its wings to Sabah, Bersatu Chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Friday.

Dr Mahathir, who is the Prime Minister, said the Sabah chapter of Bersatu would be established soon and the person to head it would be determined later.

Addressing the media after chairing a meeting of the Bersatu Supreme Leadership Council here, he said the primary reason for Bersatu to establish its Sabah chapter was to enable Sabah Umno members who had quit their party to join Bersatu.

He said these former Sabah Umno members did not wish to join Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan), the Sabah ruling party which is friendly to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition that comprises Bersatu, PKR, DAP and Amanah.

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“A problem arose when the Umno leaders quit their party and Sabah Umno was dissolved. They did not wish to join Warisan and wanted to join Bersatu,” he said.

Dr Mahathir said those who wanted to join Bersatu would be subjected to a tight screening.

“The three conditions we have set are that they must quit Umno, become independent elected representatives for some time, and they will have to undergo a tight selection process, individually and not as a group,” he said.

Dr Mahathir said Bersatu was spreading its wings to Sabah not to challenge or oppose Warisan, which is led by Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Shafie Apdal.

He also said anyone could join Bersatu in Sabah except the members of fellow component parties of PH, namely PKR, DAP and Amanah and Warisan.

Asked whether the decision to open the Sabah chapter was discussed with the Warisan leadership, Dr Mahathir said there was no necessity to do that.

“We are going to Sabah to strengthen Shafie’s government; we are not opposing Warisan. We made the decision after studying the situation in Sabah where they (former Umno members) did not want to join Warisan but wanted to join Bersatu,” he said, adding that the decision did not require the agreement of the other component parties of PH.

Meanwhile, there will be no hijacking of the reform agenda through the defections to Parti Pribumi, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.

Anwar said Bersatu has every right to embrace and accept defectors from the previous ruling party as long as it does not contravene and go against Pakatan’s understanding and agreement for reforms.

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According to Anwar, who is the leader of the biggest partner in Pakatan, Bersatu Chairman and Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir himself had given the much needed assurance at Pakatan meetings that he is committed to and would subscribe to the Pakatan policies and agenda as promised to the people.

At the close of the 14th General Election, PKR had 47 MPs, Bersatu 13 prior to the defections, and DAP 42. A nationwide political tsunami then toppled Barisan Nasional in which Umno was the dominant party. In an electoral understanding among Pakatan partners, Dr Mahathir would serve for two years as Prime Minister and would hand over power to Anwar thereafter.

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