Shafie: Warisan needs to strengthen first, choose sides later

 

Warisan president Shafie Apdal said that his party needs to strengthen and fix its problems before entering into coalition talks.

According to a report by the Borneo Post, he said this when commenting on Sabah Pakatan Harapan's recent statement saying that Warisan is distancing itself from the opposition coalition.

"Our focus now is to fix our house first before making any visit to other people's houses.

"I already said this before, Warisan is currently strengthening its 'house' because our door was 'stolen', our window was 'bought' and even our staircase is impossible to climb," he told a press conference after the Warisan supreme council meeting at Warisan headquarters in Kolombong, Kota Kinabalu.

After riding a wave following the 2018 general election, Warisan has been in retreat ever since the party lost hold of the chief minister position in 2020. There have been defections, and the party's attempt to contest in the peninsula was rejected by voters in the Johor state election.

Shafie has also muddied the waters by saying that he is willing to work with anyone, giving fuel to rumours his party was preparing to cross the floor.

He said, however, that while Warisan is not with Harapan anymore, the party is still in opposition.

He also brushed off a question about former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's recent suggestion that all opposition parties needed to work together in a "big tent" without PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and Bersatu chief Muhyiddin Yassin, saying he was not ready for it and would only focus on his party.

"I have many experiences, more than 30 years with BN and six years with Harapan. I have been in many collaborations, but when the time comes, we might need our experiences to learn something and improve," said Shafie, who is also Semporna MP and Senallang state assemblyperson. - Mkini