Pakatan Harapan alliance in Sabah

(The Star) – Sabah DAP chief Stephen Wong said they were willing to give and take with their local counterparts who shouldn’t adopt a taiko or big brother attitude by insisting on contesting in a majority of the seats. 

PKR, DAP and Amanah have teamed up to launch their Pakatan Harapan alliance in Sabah with a clear message to local opposition parties that they intend to contest in the state in the next general election.

Leaders of the alliance said they were willing to negotiate with Sabah-based opposition parties on how they could take on the ruling Barisan Nasional on a one-to-one basis.

They said staying out of Sabah in the coming elections in favour of local parties was out of the question.

Sabah DAP chief Stephen Wong said they were willing to give and take with their local counterparts who shouldn’t adopt a taiko or big brother attitude by insisting on contesting in a majority of the seats.

“If a party has not done anything at a constituency and expects us to just allow them to contest there, it would be unfair,” said Wong after signing an agreement with Sabah PKR chief Christina Liew and state Amanah chief Hamzah Abdullah for the formation of the Harapan alliance.

Also present were PKR leader Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang.

The event was held at Dewan Hakka at Likas here, which was also the launching venue of the United Sabah Alliance comprising Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) and STAR.

The hall was also the launching venue of the Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah led by former Umno leader Datuk Lajim Ukin.

Dr Wan Azizah later told reporters that she had met Parti Warisan Sabah leader Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal to kick off discussions about working out strategies in taking on Barisan in the coming polls.

Asked about Lajim’s call for peninsula-based parties to stay out of Sabah in the next election, Dr Wan Azizah said: “He was from PKR and won his (Klias state seat) on a PKR ticket.”

Hamzah said the presence of representatives of local opposition parties such as Warisan, PCS, STAR and SAPP was a good sign that they could sit and negotiate ahead of the polls.