KOTA KINABALU: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah chairperson Christina Liew is confident that the party will work out an electoral pact with Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) when the time comes.
Liew, who is also Api-Api assemblywoman, said PKR maintained a cordial relationship with Warisan.
“Every time Warisan invites us, we go to its functions. “When PKR has functions, Warisan sends its representatives as well.
“I am confident we can work out an electoral pact when the time comes, along with one or two local parties,” Liew said at a press conference here yesterday.
Meanwhile, she said PKR was working very well with its partner, Democratic Action Party (DAP), in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.
“There is no issue, no problem. We work very well together,” she said.
Liew pointed out that Barisan Nasional (BN) had often claimed that the opposition was in a mess and fighting against each other.
“The problem in Sabah is that we have many opposition parties that are pro-BN and pro-Umno.”
But PKR is a genuine opposition party as it fights for the rights, benefits and interests of Sabah and Sabahans, she said.
“I believe genuine opposition parties will work with us because we share the same objective, that is to put out BN and Umno.”
As for possible cooperation with Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) which recently left the opposition United Sabah Alliance (USA), Liew said the party would cross the bridge when it got to it.
Political analsyts said conflicting ideologies and self-ambition will be the downfall of Sabah’s opposition parties in the 14th general election (GE14).
“The Opposition in Sabah knows from paper or by theory that they must work together to avoid split votes ? follow the BN model ? but very unfortunately it won’t happen,” Universiti Malaysia Sabah political analyst Lee Kuok Tiung said.
“The problem with opposition is that they fundamentally cannot work together. It’s like making them ‘kahwin paksa’ (forced marriage),” he said.
They have different supporters and niches and ideologies and that will not work in the long run,” he said.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak political analyst Arnold Puyok said that the idea of an opposition front was impossible and only brought up “to appease the opposition supporters” and that the the main players of the opposition each had ambitions of their own “bargaining power”. “You can only bargain when you have seats. And when you have bargaining power, you will have greater access to patronage resources or even switch your political alliance during changing political circumstances. This explains why it’s difficult for the opposition leaders to unite as everyone is deeply driven by parochial interests,” he said. “It looks like the opposition does not have a plan. They are quite unsure about what they are doing. They have so far failed to convince the people why they are the better alternative. The bickering among the opposition leaders have demotivated a lot of people including their supporters,” Puyok added.