KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah has suffered another setback with its Labuan MP set to be charged in court today over an alleged abuse of power.

       Datuk Rozman Isli’s anticipated charging by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission comes hardly a week after the party lost its Sindumin assemblyman and information chief Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob.

       On Oct 8, Dr Yusof left the party to become an Independent supporting both the state and Federal Government.

       His quitting Warisan came days after Warisan’s Lahad Datu MP and Segama assemblyman Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi said he was prepared to break ranks with the party to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for bipartisan cooperation with the Federal Government.

       Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal has admitted that pressure is mounting on his party.

       However, he is standing firm with the belief that his party is intact.Shafie, who kept his party out of the MOU inked by Pakatan Harapan with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaacob’s administration last month, does not rule out more political pressure building up against his party.

       “It is clear that we are being put under pressure,” he said when contacted yesterday about the expected charging of Rozman at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court.

       “As I see it, yes. Why isn’t Umno there? Why isn’t Bersatu there?” he said when asked if the party was now under greater pressure with its elected representatives leaving or being charged.

       On his meeting with Ismail Sabri in Kuala Lumpur last week, Shafie said he had informed the Prime Minister that Warisan was not keen to sign the MOU.

       The Warisan chief said all parties could work for the benefit of the nation and the people without needing any MOU for bipartisan cooperation.

       “I did not want to sign. There is no need for a give-and-take (deal). It should not be based on conditions in the interest of the people and country and the Malaysian Family spirit.

       “People will make judgements on the responsibilities of the government of the day. It is our responsibility to develop the country,” he said.

       Warisan won 23 state seats in the Sept 26 snap state election last year but has so far lost two assemblymen to defections and a third passed away last November.

       The party currently has eight MPs, after losing Batu Sapi MP Datuk Liew Vui Keong to an illness last October.

       Together with Pakatan Harapan, Warisan Plus had led the state government from 2018 to 2020.

       When the Pakatan Federal Government fell in February 2020, Warisan did not join the Perikatan Nasional-led Federal Government and remained with the Opposition.

       However, a spate of defections in July 2020 led Shafie to call for a snap election that saw the Warisan Plus government being toppled by the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah coalition comprising the four-party Sabah Barisan Nasional led by Umno and four-party Sabah Perikatan led by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia as well as Parti Bersatu Sabah.