Kota Kinabalu: The cooperation of component parties in the Unity Government needs to be maintained as best as possible to avoid dominance of a single party such as Umno, said Parti Warisan (Warisan) President Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
“We have to learn this, as what happened with Umno, Barisan Nasional (BN). We don’t want only Umno or PKR to be dominant, because what about the other parties?
Do they just watch? I don’t think so. Don’t let that happen.
“In BN for 60 years, when Umno seemed dominant, we saw MCA die, MIC die and Gerakan die, so we don’t want that to happen.
“We have to strengthen all components, not just Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Umno. Other parties are not there to just watch,” he said after Warisan Putatan’s Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house, on Wednesday.
He said there has to be sincerity and honesty to strengthen all the components in the Unity Government.
The matter was voiced in a meeting of the Unity Government Leadership Consultative Council last Sunday.
The Semporna MP said he will hold a meeting with Sabah BN Chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin in the near future to discuss the cooperation between Warisan and BN in the upcoming election.
“We see that the people at the grassroots level need to be united. If we look at what happened through several approaches previously, we invited Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and even other parties, we have already stated that we can cooperate.
“So this is one of the steps towards that. But it is up to the decision at the top level of leadership to ascertain whether to cooperate.
“It is true that cooperation at the central level already exists, but how about the State-level to allow Umno together with Warisan and KDM (Social Democratic Prosperity Party) to be combined as best as possible?” he added.
On Warisan’s seat in the Selangor State Assembly, Mohd Shafie said Teratai Assemblyman Bryan Lai Wai Chong had been informed that Warisan would not contest the Selangor State Election (PRN).
“At the initial stage, there was an effort to let Warisan contest in Kedah, but I said no. It is not necessary to contest even though we have an assemblyman in Selangor,” he said.
He said although Warisan did not contest in the six states in the peninsula, Warisan supporters who were there could help.
He explained that Warisan had strong supporters there because when former MCA President Tan Sri Ong Tee Keat contested for a parliamentary seat in the last General Election (GE), Warisan obtained about 3,000 to 4,000 votes.
At the event, Shafie presented donations in the form of daily necessities to recipients from Petagas and Tanjung Aru.
Also present were Warisan Deputy President Datuk Jaujan Sambakong, Warisan Vice President cum Tg Aru Assemblyman Datuk Junz Wong, Putatan Warisan Division Chief Datuk Uda Sulai and Putatan Division Umno Chief Jefry Mohamed.
