JOHOR BARU, Jan 13 — Parti Warisan (Warisan) will attract more prominent politicians into its fold following its recent expansion to Peninsular Malaysia, says vice president Datuk Junz Wong.
He said Warisan has been receiving positive feedback since officially expanding to the peninsula last December.
“In two weeks’ time, after the Chinese New Year period, Warisan will announce its latest member who is a prominent political leader.
“The politician, who is from Penang, will become a ‘wow’ factor for Warisan,” he told reporters at a party event at Cathay Restaurant Vantage Bay in Stulang Laut here today.
However, the Tanjung Aru assemblyman declined to reveal more of the Penang politician that is set to join Warisan.
Earlier, Wong welcomed former Gerakan women’s vice chief Wong Siew Poh, who was also previously the party’s state leader and former Skudai assemblyman, into Warisan.
About three weeks ago, Warisan kicked off its membership drive in Penang where 1,500 new members were reported to have joined them from the northern state.
Wong also said that another prominent personality who joined Warisan yesterday was Datuk Seri S Sunther, the son of former MIC deputy president Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam.
He said that Warisan was upbeat about its entry into Peninsular Malaysia and the party now has 85 branches nationwide.
“We are getting a lot of inquiries from many people, including top political leaders, who have expressed their intention to support and join Warisan,” claimed Wong.
Wong explained that Warisan’s current objective since expanding into Peninsular Malaysia was to get Sabah and Sarawak natives to change their voting address in time for the 15th general election (GE15).
He explained that Warisan, as a multiracial political party from Sabah, has an added advantage as there is a 250,000-strong Borneo community living in large states such as Johor, Selangor and Penang.
“If they (the Borneo community) do not have the intention to go back and vote, it is better for them to change their address in an effort cast their votes here.
“With that, Warisan believes that we can garner enough support for us to contest in Peninsular Malaysia,” he said.
On Warisan’s entry into Johor, Wong said Warisan would consider contesting in the next state election if there was support from the local community.
However, he said time was a factor as the Johor state election could possibly be called in March this year.
“We will let the party’s leadership decide on the decision to contest in Johor’s state election.
“In the event Warisan does not contest in Johor’s state election, we will then focus on the upcoming GE15 instead,” he said, adding that Warisan was committed to field local candidates instead of outsiders as their Peninsular Malaysia candidates.
Warisan started as a Sabah state Opposition party in 2016 before going national in October last year.
The party reportedly has a good relationship with Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) led by Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
Both parties champion the people on their multiracial political platforms to unite Malaysians.
