Decisions affecting state interests will always be referred back to us - Liew

SABAH POLLS | Sabah PKR chief Christina Liew explained that every party decision made which affects state interests will always be referred back to the state leadership first.

She was referring to the seven seats that PKR will be contesting in the Sabah state election, which is half of what the party had initially announced it would contest.

“In every step we do, we always consult our party president, our secretary-general. We are a national party, so we have national policies and state policies.

“But when it comes to state interests, it will be referred back to us,” Liew said to reporters today after handing out the endorsement letters to the seven candidates at Sabah PKR headquarters in Kota Kinabalu.

Two days ago, PKR had unilaterally announced that it will be fielding its candidates in 14 seats.

However, when Warisan president Shafie Apdal announced the candidates contesting using the Warisan logo, it was revealed that PKR would only be contesting in seven seats.

Liew later issued a statement saying Sabah PKR had reached a consensus with Warisan to contest in only seven seats and that this decision had been endorsed by the party’s president Anwar Ibrahim and secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution.

Anwar and Saifuddin had previously met with Shafie at the latter’s house to discuss seat negotiations.

Liew explained today that they had gone through three phases in preparing for the state election.

In phase one, they had discussed candidate selection within the party, and in phase two, they had discussed seat negotiations with their partners.

“The third phase is where we are now, focused on winning,” she said.

When pressed about whether there were elements of sabotage in the earlier announcement of 14 seats, Liew stressed that her focus now is on winning.

“I am in phase three now. I am focused on winning, not about sabotage. At this stage, my slogan will be ‘politics don’t matter, results do’,” she said.

Meanwhile, PKR information chief Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin said he does not think there will be any sabotage from within the party during the elections due to dissatisfaction over the seven seats.

He said the party has gone through the process of seat negotiations and their stand has been expressed.

“The process has been done. Now we are focused on winning,” he said, echoing Liew’s sentiment.

Yesterday, Sabah PKR Youth information chief Razeef Rakimin had accused Warisan of betrayal over the seat distribution and warned it could lead to protest votes.

The seven PKR candidates announced today are as follow:

1. N09 Tempasuk - Mustapha bin Sakmud

2. N05 Matunggong - Sazalye Donol Bin Abdullah

3. N18 Inanam - Peto Galim

4. N32 Klias - Abdul Rahman

5.N45 Sook - Raymond Ahuar

6.N14 Tamparuli - Alijus bin Sipil

7.N20 Api Api - Christina Liew Chin Jin

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- Mkini