KOTA KINABALU, Nov 16 — Parti Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal has said that Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) founder and paramount leader of the Kadazandusun Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan was keen on the two parties collaborating.
Shafie said that he had reached out to the former PBS president and his long-time friend with a phone call and was well received but it was its current president, Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili, who had rejected the proposal.
“I called Pairin and we spoke last month. I asked how he was doing, and he said that he was doing well and asked if it was about party business. He said, ‘I am not president anymore. If I was, I would join you. But Max is president.’
“So I called Max to discuss, but he did not pick up. He texted me and said ‘Tompinai (Bro)... when I have the time, let’s sit down and have a chat.’ But after that, he said he did not want to work with me. Wah, he said, ‘I don’t want to work with him because he is a ‘PTI’,’” he said.
PTI is the acronym for pendatang tanpa izin, which means illegal immigrant.
Pairin was the founding president of PBS from 1985 until 2017.
Shafie, who was speaking at a political rally in Kota Belud, went on to say that it was acceptable of Ongkili to reject him, but that he took offence to the name calling.
“Even if you don’t want to work with me, don’t insult me or my race, the Bajau. I was a former adviser of USBO, and we went to school together. I even lent him my jacket once,” said Shafie.
USBO is the acronym for United Sabah Bajau Organisation, a non-government organisation headed by Usukan assemblyman Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak.
Shafie said that it was a political move on his part to use the issue against him because PBS’ own grassroots, the Kadazan, Dusun, Murut and Rungus communities, were politically divided by their own leaders.
He said there were many KDM-based parties in Sabah, and he had to find issues to make up for their lack of progress over the years.
Prior to Nomination Day, Shafie had for months offered to work with PBS heading into the elections on the basis that they were both local parties who were not beholden to a national coalition or party.
PBS, after sitting on the offer, eventually said that it would stick with the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah coalition despite some among their ranks being in favour of the offer.
Ongkili had insinuated that Warisan’s grassroots were of dubious background. When Shafie threatened to sue him for defamation, Ongkili said that the onus was on Warisan to prove him wrong because “denying alone is not enough.”
