PPBM not the only problem for Warisan, says Sabah activist

Activist Zainnal Ajamain says there is no one credible enough to replace Warisan president Shafie Apdal if the need arises. (Bernama pic)

KOTA KINABALU: A political activist has disputed any need for Warisan to dissolve when PPBM enters Sabah, but warns that the party otherwise risks losing a measure of political power.

Zainnal Ajamain said PPBM would push for its entry into Sabah as the federal leaders did not trust Warisan.

“Warisan’s leaders, especially its president and Chief Minister Shafie Apdal, are seen as insecure and weak with his own people pushing him around,” he told FMT.

Although he disagreed with political analyst Musli Oli that Warisan should dissolve and let its members join PPBM, Zainnal said Musli was right in saying that Warisan had no clear direction other than to win the election.

He said Warisan did not have any clear philosophy to begin with, and the ideas their leaders had been promoting were “mashed up philosophies” taken from PKR, DAP and Umno.

“Their objective was to become the Sabah government.

“Now that they have achieved that, they don’t know what to do because they don’t have a philosophy and only adopted other parties’ philosophies.

“Since the party is in a confused state, if something happens to their supreme leader, they wouldn’t know what to do.”

He added that there was no one credible enough to replace Shafie, should something happen to him.

At the same time, he added, Shafie might be trying to create an environment in which he is indispensable to the party.

On the imminent entry of PPBM, he said a newspaper had reported that some 2,000 people in Lahad Datu in the residency of Tawau had started 47 PPBM branches.

He said this was an interesting development, especially since the area is heavily populated by the Bugis community with their base in Tawau and Kunak.

“The Bugis political base was Umno, and now they are moving into PPBM. It would be interesting to see how they will fight against the Suluk, who form the majority of Warisan supporters.

“In the east coast, the two ethnic groups will come face to face, and I would pick the Bugis because with PPBM, they will have a direct political link with, and finance from, Putrajaya,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gee Tien Siong, a vice-president of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), believed Warisan would soon become a shadow of itself.

“A local party must have a strong philosophy, not a strong personality. SAPP, for example, is not about our president Yong Teck Lee. We are known to be a local party, fighting for Sabah’s rights and its people,” he said.

Gee said that while Warisan should be recognised for toppling Sabah Barisan Nasional, it had done so with the help of national-based parties and Upko.

He said this was why Shafie appeared reluctant when it came to the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963, as he knew his position was weak.

“I think it is quite worrying that even after eight months, the state government is still unstable. Perhaps PPBM will be seen as a stabilising factor in the end,” he added.

He believed that despite what Warisan leaders had said, and assurances from PPBM leaders, the national-based party would eventually come to Sabah, perhaps before the end of the year. - FMT