Keep your promise and stay away from Sabah, Warisan tells PPBM

Warisan secretary general Loretto Padua Jr says the former Umno reps can join PPBM without the party opening up in Sabah.

KOTA KINABALU: Warisan has insisted that PPBM hold on to its promise to skip Sabah and let Sabahans handle the state’s affairs.

Speaking to FMT today, Warisan secretary-general Loretto Padua Jr said Warisan and PPBM have a good relationship with one another and it was his understanding that the party, led by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, will honour its promise not to enter Sabah.

“In the past, Warisan suffered when our opponents accused us of being PPBM’s proxy in Sabah.

“It was a liability to our own credibility as a local party that champions Sabah’s rights,” he said.

Commenting on the possible direction of former Sabah Umno representatives, Padua said they were widely expected to join PPBM.

“Nobody can stop them from joining PPBM. It is their constitutional right. However, it does not mean PPBM will spread its wings into Sabah.

“Warisan also has members outside of Sabah but it doesn’t mean we have to open Warisan branches in Johor, for example.”

Nevertheless, the lawyer-turned-politician believed PPBM will continue to honour its promise to Warisan.

Former Gabungan Sabah member, Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah (PHRS), led by former deputy chief minister Lajim Ukin, is said to be actively sponsoring the entry of PPBM into Sabah.

PHRS is having its annual general meeting this weekend and is set to hold a press conference tomorrow which will be attended by a senior PPBM leader as well as several officers from the Prime Minister’s Office.

The topic of PPBM’s entry into Sabah has set tongues wagging with some seeing it as the making of another Umno while others mocked Warisan for its naïveté in swallowing whole Mahathir’s promise.

Social media users recalled Mahathir’s words in 1985 when he promised to swim and sink with Berjaya only to later see the emergence of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) as part of BN.

“What more this promise, made privately without any written agreement?” they said.

PPBM is present in all states in the peninsula and has already opened its Sarawak wing. It is the only national-based party that has yet to enter Sabah. -FMT