KOTA KINABALU: The bad blood between Parti Warisan and DAP worsened after a Sabah DAP leader labelled Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal a hypocrite in the row between the two parties over possible cooperation in GE15.
Sabah DAP secretary Phoong Jin Zhe claimed the Warisan president was being hypocritical on several fronts, one of which involved the latter’s criticism over DAP’s intention to defend the Tenom, Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seats it won in GE14.
Phoong, who is Luyang assemblyman, felt it was “extremely” unfair for Shafie to accuse his party of arrogance and adopting a one-way communication when it was the latter who rejected any potential cooperation with Pakatan Harapan.
“He (Shafie) is the one who has repeatedly turned down the big tent idea and even said that Pakatan Plus is gone in Sabah - who is the egoistic and arrogant one now?” he said in a statement here on Wednesday (June 8).
“We have extended olive branches several times and I had personally and openly pledged to initiate cooperation between both parties in order to meet the aspirations of the people.
“It is hypocritical of Shafie to say that this is a one-way traffic (as), he was the one who turned down all these opportunities to discuss potential cooperation in a respectful manner.”
Shafie, who is Sabah Opposition leader, had said DAP should not set conditions when seeking talks with Warisan over possible cooperation during GE15.
The former chief minister was commenting on DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke's condition that DAP was willing to work with other Sabah parties, as long as they retained the right to contest the three parliamentary seats it held in GE15.
"This is one-way traffic... we cannot be too arrogant," he said in a press conference at the Warisan headquarters in Kolombong near here on Tuesday (June 7).
Phoong added that DAP gave its unwavering support to Warisan during the 2020 Sabah state election and it had never, until today, attempted to claim any seats won by Warisan in GE14 or the 2020 Sabah polls.
“But on the contrary, Warisan contested in three seats held by DAP in the Johor state election (earlier this year),” he said, adding a Warisan supreme council member had also previously announced openly the party will be contesting in three state seats held by DAP in Sandakan.
“Who is the one being arrogant now is clear. Stop making DAP or Upko or Pakatan the scapegoat for your own shortcomings after failing to get the majority to form the government.”
Phoong also took offence that Shafie was interested in striking a political pact with Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), despite Warisan declaring it would not be forming any coalition earlier.
He added it was also hypocritical of the Warisan president to push the Federal Government to hasten the introduction of the anti-hopping law.
“If Shafie was hurt by his members defecting, why did he accept ‘political frogs’ such as (Elopura assemblyman) Calvin Chong, (Sri Tanjung assemblyman) Justin Wong and (Teratai assemblyman) Bryan Lai?” he asked.
Chong, Wong and Lai had quit DAP to become independent assemblymen before joining Warisan.
Phoong also took issue with Shafie's attack on former DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng over the special grant payment to Sabah. Shafie claimed Lim had not done enough when he was the then finance minister in the Pakatan-led federal government.
Phoong said Lim was the first finance minister to double the special grant payment for Sabah since the 1970s, adding this showed DAP respected Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners in Malaysia.
He added that Sabah Pakatan also recently filed a legal action against the Federal Government to reclaim the 40% tax revenue collected by Putrajaya from the state.
“If Shafie wants to shift the blame to Lim, he must reflect on himself first - he was an Umno federal minister from 2004 to 2015 (but) why only point fingers now?
“It is fine if Shafie decides to decline the call for unity among the Opposition but stop being hypocritical and stop making baseless allegations towards us,” Phoong said.