“Mahathir has earned the favour of many Perikatan Nasional Members of Parliament and leaders who have quietly been in communication with his team and expressed their desire to be in his bloc”
Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen
ساتو كجوتن بسر دجڠك برلاكو
A covert attempt by one or two WARISAN insiders to pour cold water on the party’s alleged national ambitions suggests that there may be interference by third parties from the ruling Perikatan Nasional to break WARISAN up.
According to a Sabah Member of Parliament who spoke to TTF on condition of anonymity, the interference is from Sabah itself and is likely due to the failure of the state’s UMNO chapter in getting enough assemblymen to cross over.
“A Sabah UMNO leader has been in touch with several ADUNs for obvious reasons.
“But he has failed even though two assemblymen did cross over. Now there are people trying to tell WARISAN MPs that Tun is trying to take over the party.
“They are desperate,” he said.
The MP was referring to the departure of Kuala Penyu assemblyman Datuk Limus Jury and Sugut assemblyman Datuk James Ratib from UPKO on the 15th of June 2020.
The duo announced their decision during a press conference where they pledged allegiance towards Perikatan Nasional.
But their departure far from jeopardised the WARISAN dominated Sabah state administration, the MP said.
The MP also spoke at length about Mahathir’s association with WARISAN president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and said many Sarawak Members of Parliament viewed plans to turn Shafie into Prime Minister positively.
On the 29th of June 2020, Mahathir announced that Shafie’s name had been floated as Prime Minister candidate during an informal meeting attended by him, the DAP and AMANAH four days earlier.
The disclosure was met with a queer response from PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who took to Facebook, warning his audience that there were leaders who resorted to deceptive politics.
Anwar is believed to have been referring to Mahathir.
The DAP and AMANAH subsequently convened a meeting with Anwar on the 6th of July 2020 and agreed to his candidature as Prime Minister.
This ultimately led to an announcement by Mahathir that he and five other Members of Parliament aligned to him would conform to an independent bloc and would not join any coalition.
In a joint statement together with said MPs, Mahathir added that they would stand by a decision made in June to nominate Shafie as Prime Minister.
Not only did the announcement mean Mahathir had rubbished Anwar’s claim to the role, it meant he was more than willing to enter the 15th general election without the DAP, AMANAH or Anwar by his side.
The news has since earned Mahathir the favour of many Perikatan Nasional Members of Parliament and leaders who have quietly been in communication with his team and expressed their desire to be in his bloc.
The support comes atop that which Team Mahathir has already mustered from Team B (UMNO) and Borneo (apart from WARISAN).
This has caused anxiety among several Sabah UMNO leaders who have since pushed the panic button, seeing that there has been a significant tilt in the axis of support towards Mahathir’s camp.
As a result, there have been instances of ‘mysterious outsiders’ influencing WARISAN ‘insiders’ to spread rumours that Mahathir had plans to join the party and turn it into a national affair by promising Shafie the post of Prime Minister.
That is the long and short of what is going on.
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