18 Sept 2020

【PRN Sabah】5 reasons Sabahans should withhold their votes from Shafie & Warisan

Campaigning for the Sabah state elections has commenced and this state polls is seeing battles of unprecedented force. Sabahans must make a wise decision as the future destiny of this state should be entrusted unto candidates and their coalitions who are responsible and cherish Sabah, and these do not include Dato’ Seri Shafie Apdal nor his Parti Warisan Sabah.

1)  A vote for Shafie & Warisan = A vote for Mahathir

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad wielded power for 22 years and another 22 months as Prime Minister. Sabah’s politics, economy, resources, unity and others were shattered by this person. Shafie is a puppet of this elderly man and serves as a seat warmer in preparation of handing over the reins to the latter’s son. If Sabahans do not want to continue to live in the shadows of the 95-year-old, this Sabah state polls is an opportunity to ditch Mahathir through the ballot box and completely end Mahathir’s influence in Sabah.

2) Placing Sabah’s sovereignty at stake

The Philippines has repeatedly provoked the reassertion of its border claims over Sabah, and Shafie even asked our government to negotiate with the government of the Philippines. This indicates that Shafie holds an ambiguous position over Sabah’s territorial sovereignty. There simply is no room for negotiation on any issue concerning Sabah’s land, maritime and airspace borders. Sabah is one of the 14 states of Malaysia. Why does Shafie dither in this issue and in turn, requests the Malaysian government to negotiate with the Philippines?

Just 3 days after Shafie claimed that the Malaysian government should negotiate with the Filipina government, the Philippines immediately reopened their relevant government agencies to stake their sovereignty claim of North Borneo. In reality, these organisations have been closed for a full 30 years. But because Shafie opened the doors of convenience, this enabled the Philippines the opportunity to reopen these organisations.

3)  Issuing out Pas Sementary Sabah (PSS) to illegal immigrants

As soon as Shafie took office, he proposed the issuance of PSS to illegal immigrants in Sabah. This would be a loophole to allow illegals to reside in Sabah legally and permanently, thereby eroding the rights and interests of local Sabahans. This plan can be regarded as the same tactic Dr Mahathir deployed to issue identity cards to illegals in Sabah for the purpose of consolidating his own power.

Following its defeat at the Kimanis state by-election, the Warisan state government announced the scrapping of the PSS. But should Warisan Plus emerge triumphant at the state elections, they will surely get the support of the public to revive plans for the PSS.

4)  The promised 20% royalties for oil-producing states shrank to 20% of profits

The Harapan Manifesto clearly promises to raise oil royalties to 20%. In actuality, after taking power, it became 20% of profits. Shafie Apdal is on the side of Pakatan Harapan.


5) Warisan in power, Sabah’s economy slumps to all time low

There is no minimum, but only spiraling lower! Under the Barisan Nasional administration, Sabah recorded the highest economic growth among all states in the country, reaching 8.2% in 2017. However, after Warisan and Pakatan Harapan came to power, economic growth fell to 1.5% in 2018, sliding further to 0.5% in 2019, rendering Sabah as the state with the worst economic performance.

Combining the 5 factors listed above, drawing lessons from history and analysing the political situation currently, in carefully casting the sacred ballot, Sabahans  must ensure that Sabah moves in the correct path.

-Translated and edited from Lan Tian-