KOTA KINABALU: It is not surprising that three Parti Warisan assemblymen have quit their party to show support to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor (pic), as he has been leading the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state government to excellent achievements, says the Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) information chief.
Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan said this in refuting Warisan’s Datuk Junz Wong who claimed that GRS engineered the defections to strengthen the “backdoor” government.
“The Sabah government led by Hajiji, who is also Gagasan Rakyat president, has performed well under the Sabah Maju Jaya 1.0 (2020-2025) halatuju.
“The increased revenue collected and boosted investments, the economic recovery through positive growth and achievements in realising matters related to Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63); these are manifestations of an excellent state administration.
“So we should not be surprised if there are more opposition assemblymen leaving their parties to show support to Hajiji,” he said in a statement on Wednesday (Feb 8).
Wong who is Warisan vice-president on Tuesday (Feb 7) commented on the three assemblymen – Mohammad Mohamarin (Banggi), Ben Chong Chen Bin (Tanjong Kapor) and Norazlinah Arif (Kunak) – who quit Warisan to support Hajiji, by expressing disappointment that the talk of a unity government by Hajiji was not sincere and merely a tactic to lure assemblymen for their own political interests.
“This claim by Wong also contradicts with the actions of Warisan leaders themselves.
“How can a unity government be formed when Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal decided to drag Sabah Umno chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin with 12 Umno assemblymen and three PKDM assemblymen on Jan 6 in an attempt to overthrow the state government through the backdoor?
“Clearly, Wong and Warisan leadership are the ones not sincere in this matter,” said Nizam.
He added that Wong is being a hypocrite by asking the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate the three assemblymen concerned.
“But in March 2022, two assemblymen (Elopura and Sri Tanjung reps) left DAP to join Warisan, and he (Wong) did not ask MACC to do the same and investigate at the time.
“Wong is apparently practising selective application (for rules) when it comes to this,” he added.
Nizam said that after Sabah folk had decided through the 16th Sabah state election, the Warisan leadership should have accepted the results with an open heart and given an opportunity to the parties given the mandate to administer Sabah, and accepted their role as check and balance to the state government.