BEAUFORT: Is Parti Warisan Sabah really an independent local party, or “masked” within Pakatan Harapan?

This is the big question being raised by Umno in the campaign for the Kimanis parliamentary seat.

Warisan, helmed by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, is a Pakatan-friendly partner and is not a member of the national ruling coalition.

Umno leaders are saying that Warisan cannot distance itself from the Federal Government which it accuses of failing in their policies, pointing out that the party has three full ministers in the federal Cabinet and two deputy ministers.

“Warisan knows the sentiments here, people do not like parties with federal links so they are putting on a show, ” says Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

“If they are not part of the Pakatan government, why would a small party with not many parliamentary seats justify getting three full ministers and two deputies?

“So this is a distribution of power, a formula used by members of Pakatan. But they are trying to distance themselves from Pakatan because the coalition’s performance is very bad.

“They want to mislead the voters. I hope the people can see this, ” he told reporters after a ceramah at PDM (voting centre) Brunei in Kampung Brunei on Saturday night.

Umno supreme council member Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan echoed the view, saying Warisan was as much liable.

“They cannot disassociate themselves from the failures of the Federal Government, so they are answerable to whatever government failures in terms of policies, such as the cutting down of assistance to the grassroots on subsidies and scholarships, ” said the former Cabinet minister.

He believed that Kimanis voters would want to retain Barisan Nasional “as they know that the coalition is on a revival with Umno poised to take over Putrajaya”.

Abdul Rahman also disclosed that former Kimanis MP Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, who has announced that he will back the Barisan candidate, will be coming over tomorrow to prove his commitment.

“Anifah will be featured in some of our major ceramah during the campaigning, ” he added.

Meanwhile, Mohamad, commenting on an event attended by Shafie on Saturday where a lucky draw prize of a motorcycle was presented, said this was against election regulations.

”I will ask our command centre to make a report. This was done obviously right after the nomination process and is against the (election) law.

“But for them (Warisan), this is all no offence. They know there will be no action taken, so it (the practice) will be rampant.

“But the people can now judge. In Kimanis, I say we have no problems. We have a local candidate in Datuk Mohamad Alamin who is young and full of potential, and our candidate also has a position in the party, ” he added.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/01/06/umno-questions-warisans-position-in-govt