Warisan panicking over possibility of its reps crossing over to PN, says ex-Sabah CM

Former chief minister Yong Teck Lee says the state government is destabilising itself through repeated denials.

KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee believes the Warisan-led Sabah government is shooting itself in the foot politically by repeatedly saying its elected representatives will remain loyal.

Yong, who is Sabah Progressive Party president, said the state government was destabilising itself through the repeated denials, such as the “out-of-the-blue show of support” for Chief Minister Shafie Apdal recently by a group of 19 elected representatives.

“It was that ‘no smoke without fire’ news that triggered widespread talk among the people that the Warisan-led government might fall.

“The appearance of weakness was compounded by the fact that only 19 of the 48 supposed government assemblymen were present,” he said in a statement here today.

Besides that, Yong said, on June 10, a joint statement was issued in the name of eight Warisan MPs pledging support for Shafie.

“Was that pledge of support necessary in the first place? Two days later on June 12, the chief minister, who is also the Warisan president, called all the elected reps to his office for a show of force. Three assemblymen were absent.

“All these denials and show of force have presented the image of a panicky chief minister who is unsure of the support of the elected reps.”

Yong said Warisan should not grumble about the luring of its elected representatives by the Perikatan Nasional and its supporters as Warisan and Pakatan Harapan were doing the same at the federal level.

“In contrast, in spite of efforts by PH-Plus to woo MPs to topple the Perikatan Nasional government led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the PN leaders have come across as calm and steady and in full control.” - FMT