Warisan capable of another strong showing in GE15, say analysts

 

Warisan plans to contest all the 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah and the one seat in Labuan in GE15.

KOTA KINABALU: Warisan is capable of another strong performance in the 15th general election (GE15) even if it decides to go solo in Sabah, say political analysts.

In the last general election in 2018, Warisan, which was contesting an election for the first time, managed to win eight seats, including those long dominated by Barisan Nasional (BN). Their partner at the time, Pakatan Harapan (PH), won six seats.

On Wednesday, Warisan announced that it plans to contest all 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah and the one seat in Labuan in GE15.

Tony Paridi Bagang of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) said that as a local party, Warisan’s strength was in championing Sabah’s rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and its push for increased autonomy and development.

Tony Paridi Bagang.

Ramli Dollah of the Sabah Geopolitical and Electoral Studies Unit (GeoPes) of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) said Warisan had a strong influence in Sabah, especially on the east coast, the islands and coastal areas.

“Warisan’s main strength still lies in (president) Shafie Apdal. He has proven his leadership capabilities and charisma and he is a leader who can inspire the people in the bargaining process with the federal government,” Ramli told FMT.

He said Warisan’s push to expand to the peninsula showed that it wanted to become one of the country’s main political players.

However, he noted that Warisan also had several weaknesses, such as lack of finance and leaders with experience at federal-level politics.

“The party cannot depend entirely on two or three individuals because it is not good for the long term.

“Warisan needs to produce leaders who are able to understand local and national issues, especially since GE15 is more focused on the latter,” he said.

Ramli Dollah.

Ramli also said that although Warisan was a multi-ethnic party, it was often labelled as a party of only one ethnicity. He said it had to address this issue to avoid it being exploited by others in GE15.

Meanwhile, Tony said Warisan’s strength would be fully tested in GE15 because of the changed political landscape after the last polls, where political alliances had dominated.

He said that apart from advocating for rights for Sabah in line with MA63, Warisan had also built a reputation as a strong and independent party which was not tied to any political alliances, especially from the peninsula.

“However, Warisan has lost several leaders (to other parties) and it takes time to build grassroots support and put forward new faces,” he said.

Tony also said Warisan may face a “big challenge” to win seats in the predominantly KadazanDusun Murut areas as there was a perception among such communities that the party was “friendly” towards illegal immigrants.

“This was an issue that was manipulated (by opposing parties) at the Kimanis by-election in January 2020 and the Sabah state election in September 2020,” he said. - FMT