Shafie denies splitting opposition votes in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) president Shafie Apdal has denied suggestions by Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) that his party was avoiding Barisan Nasional (BN) strongholds and splitting opposition votes in the state.

Shafie said Warisan had been covering all of Sabah including in BN strongholds.

“I have gone to Libaran (parliamentary constituency)… is that an opposition area?,” asked Shafie at a programme here to launch Gabungan Perwira Sabah, a group consisting of former security and uniformed officers.

“Have you seen me going to Kinabatangan? I was there last week. In fact I have been to Tawau and Ranau, all of which are BN areas,” he added.

SAPP president Yong Teck Lee had claimed that Warisan was out to split the opposition votes, and gave as examples Shafie’s programmes in the opposition-held Penampang and Beaufort, as well as in the Matunggong and Kadamaian state constituencies.

Yong said Shafie should instead go to areas like Kalabakan, Kudat, Sukau and Libaran, among others.

Meanwhile, Shafie again questioned the omission of the 13 additional Sabah state seats in the redelineation motion tabled by Prime Minister Najib Razak and passed by the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday.

“Whether the Dewan Rakyat accepts it or not, it is up to the House. Because this is an enactment, which is the law. No PM or CM can override it,” he said.

He said the Sabah state assembly which gazetted the 13 seats two years ago should re-convene and revert to the 60 seats.

In August 2016, the Sabah state assembly passed a bill to increase the number of state seats from 60 to 73.

State Secretary Sukarti Wakiman had said the proposal to have the 13 new seats would be tabled together with that of new parliamentary seats in the state at a future Dewan Rakyat sitting.

Shafie said the Dewan Rakyat had ignored the Sabah state assembly.

“This is the right of Sabahans. If this is ignored, what more smaller people like us?,” he said. “When the elections are over and Warisan wins, don’t bring this to court to challenge the victory.” -FMT