Kota Kinabalu: Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) information chief Joniston Bangkuai has called out Warisan president Shafie Apdal for “being a hypocrite” over Sebatik assemblyman Hassan A Gani Pg Amir leaving his party in favour of GRS.
He said the former Sabah chief minister had himself accepted Barisan Nasional (BN) assemblymen who switched allegiances following the last general election (GE14) in May 2018,
FMT reported.
“Perhaps Shafie is suffering from memory loss because he has suddenly forgotten the events engineered by his party to bring down the Sabah BN government after GE14,” Bangkuai said in a statement here today.
“Shafie then saw it fit to accept not one but six BN assemblymen barely 24 hours after a chief minister was sworn in, thus forming a backdoor government with him being the new chief minister.
“It would seem that only Shafie has the licence to accept defecting elected representatives on the basis that they had lost confidence in the then (BN) democratically elected government,” he added.
Bangkuai, who is also Parti Bersatu Sabah secretary-general, was commenting on Shafie’s reaction to Hassan’s departure and Warisan’s action to get the Sebatik representative to vacate his seat.
He said Hassan’s decision to leave Warisan had also been prompted by a loss of confidence in Shafie’s party.
“This is hypocrisy of the highest order by a man who is desperately hanging on to a sinking ship,” he added.
Earlier today, Sabah state assembly Speaker Kadzim M Yahya said Hassan would remain as Sebatik assemblyman, after rejecting a pre-signed resignation letter submitted by Warisan.
Kadzim said the letter signed by Hassan was “ineffective” under the current law.
At the same time, he said Hassan had handed him a statutory declaration to withdraw and revoke any pre-signed documents with Warisan, besides stating his intention to keep his seat.
Warisan secretary-general Loretto Padua Jr subsequently responded that the party would take legal action to compel the speaker to accept Hassan’s resignation and vacate the seat.
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