Sabah based parties are sceptical over Shafie's nomination as next PM

By Olivia Miwil - June 28, 2020 @ 7:56pm

KOTA KINABALU: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has no noble intention of making Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal as Malaysia's next Prime Minister.

Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan alleged that the proposal to nominate Parti Warisan Sabah chief as the Pakatan Harapan Plus Prime Ministerial candidate was meant to bring down current Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's government.

He said the move was also meant to block PKR's Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim from leading the country.

"Sabahans must not be hoodwinked into thinking this idea came from a good place.

"Dr Mahathir is desperate and is toying with Sabahans, using them as bait in an attempt to topple the Perikatan Nasional government and deny Anwar the premiership.

"It was also done with a hidden motive to prevent Shafie's Warisan party's elected representatives from deserting the party and avert a collapse of the Sabah state government," he said in a statement today.

He said it does not make sense for a candidate from non-Pakatan Harapan party to be nominated as the Prime Ministerial candidate for the pact.

Jeffrey, who is also Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister, said that Dr Mahathir had reneged his promises many times previously and should instead hand over the baton to Anwar.

He also advised Dr Mahathir to heed the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah's advice to stop political turmoil and to prioritise the rakyat which is facing twin threats of the Covid-19 pandemic and an economic slowdown.

Former Chief Minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee meanwhile said that by getting involved in the play at the federal level, Shafie as a veteran politician should know that it is a matter of "win or lose, kill or be killed."

"By being the provocative aggressor against the Prime Minister (Muhyiddin ), Shafie has burned all his bridges, set fire to himself and has rendered himself completely incapable of performing his tasks as a Chief Minister.

"The only option left open for him will be to resign as Chief Minister and to take his position as a national opposition leader," he said in a separate statement.

He said that if Shafie fails to become Prime Minister, it was no longer tenable for him to cling on to the Sabah Chief Ministerial post.

Yong, who is also Sabah Progressive Party president, said the position of the Warisan chief as a Chief Minister would be severely damaged beyond repair should he resign from his current post.

As of now, Warisan, Sabah DAP and UPKO leaders had voiced their support towards Shafie being proposed as the ninth Prime Minister.

Shafie meanwhile is expected to spell out his stance on whether he will accept his nomination as the next Prime Ministerial candidate on Monday.