Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal speaks during a press conference in Kota Kinabalu March 15, 2022. — Picture courtesy of Parti Warisan
KOTA KINABALU, March 15 — The support shown for Barisan Nasional (BN) in the three state elections of Melaka, Sarawak and Johor is a clear sign that a leadership change is overdue for Pakatan Harapan (PH), said former ally Parti Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal.
The former Sabah chief minister said that although it was necessary to form alliances in the current political scenario, PH could not move forward until there was a change in its top leadership.
“It is quite clear the people on the ground want to see a change in leadership,” he told reporters at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport here today
“It is not for me to tell them to go but it is time for them to leave,” he said.
He remained coy about whether Warisan would work with PKR or PH should they change leadership, but admitted it was necessary to have an Opposition alliance for strength in unity.
“But it doesn’t mean an alliance can guarantee victory.
“We have to see who we align with and which candidates to put up. PH still could not secure a victory despite having good, known candidates,” he said.
Shafie also said the fact PH had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the current government had also weakened its position, giving reason to voters to doubt them.
“When you give them ammunition like that, they can strengthen themselves. And then you say you gave them that for the sake of the country and people?
“This is for political survival. You can see how we were weakened from signing the MoU,” he said.
In the recently concluded Johor state elections, BN won 40 out of the 56 seats while PH and PKR won 12 seats. Perikatan Nasional took three and Muda won its first seat.
Warisan, contesting for the first time in West Malaysia, contested six seats but lost badly, garnering 0.47 per cent of the vote, or just over 6,500 ballots.