DAP slams ‘hypocritical’ Shafie for calling it arrogant in cooperation talks

 

Sabah DAP secretary Phoong Jin Zhe said Warisan president Shafie Apdal was the one who turned down all opportunities to discuss their possible cooperation in a respectful manner.

PETALING JAYA: A Sabah DAP leader has hit back at Shafie Apdal for accusing the party of being arrogant when negotiating a possible alliance for the 15th general election (GE15), labelling the Warisan president a hypocrite.

Sabah DAP secretary Phoong Jin Zhe said it was unfair for the former chief minister to level such an accusation as the party only wanted to defend seats won in the last nationwide polls, namely Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, and Tenom.

“On the contrary, he was the one who repeatedly turned down the idea of the ‘big tent’ and even said that PH Plus is gone in Sabah.

“Who is the egoistic and arrogant one now?” Phoong said in a statement.

The “big tent” term is used to describe the coming together of all opposition parties against Barisan Nasional.

Yesterday, Shafie said DAP should not set conditions when seeking talks with Warisan over possible cooperation during GE15.

He said this in response to DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook’s statement that the party was willing to work with other Sabah parties as long as they retained the right to contest the three seats that they won in the last election.

“This is one-way traffic … we cannot be too arrogant,” Shafie was quoted as saying.

Phoong said that Pakatan Harapan had extended an olive branch several times.

He too had personally pledged to initiate cooperation between both parties.

“It is hypocritical of Shafie to say that this is one-way traffic, he was the one that turned down all these opportunities to discuss in a respectful manner.”

The Luyang assemblyman added that DAP gave its “unwavering and unanimous” support to Warisan under Shafie’s leadership, especially during the 2020 Sabah elections.

Neither had the party attempted to claim any seats that were won by Warisan in 2018 or 2020, Phoong said.

On the contrary, he said, Warisan contested three DAP seats in Johor.

“Stop making DAP, Upko or PH the scapegoat for your own shortcomings after failing to get the majority to form the government,” he added. - FMT