Bung (left) and Darell.
KOTA KINABALU: An online forum on Thursday rekindled claims that Umno and Warisan may work together in the next general election.
Sabah Umno chief Datuk Bung Moktar Radin and Warisan deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking who were panelists of the online forum titled “Beyond the 2020 Sabah Polls: Sabah Moving Forward”, organised by the Society Empowerment and Economic Development of Sabah, did not rule out this possibility of their parties joining forces in future.
The two politicians were asked whether the opposing political camps could form the Sabah government after the next general election through political realignment.
Bung said: “Politics is always alive” and that “nothing is impossible in politics”.
“It is up to the politicians to make this possible or not. The question is not that it cannot happen … it can, but whether it will serve the people’s interests.
“If it does and brings benefits to the people, then we will do as such (a political realignment). But, as I’ve said before, we have just gone through our 16th state election.
“If there is a change, then there might be a 17th election. I’m worried this will have a negative impact on our politics, economy and the people.
“Although Warisan is not in the government, it’s not wrong for them to contribute by sharing good ideas that can be used to develop Sabah,” said the Sabah Deputy Chief Minister.
Leiking replied that there was no evidence of negotiations going on between Warisan and Umno as “no telephone calls have been tapped”, drawing laughter from Bung.
He then added: “When you talk about working together, never write off any possibility.”
The Penampang MP said he agreed with Bung’s argument earlier on uniting the state.
“First, we need to unite Sabahans. Let’s not be divided by race, we must have trust in each other. If we don’t, we will not get anywhere.
“We have to lead the way but Sabah can never reach that level if the federal government or any federal movement divides us and we allow that to happen,” he said.
Speculation on secret talks between Umno and Warisan have been making the rounds for some time after the Sept 26 Sabah election last year.
Yesterday’s latest stand by Leiking seems to go against what the former federal minister had previously said – that Warisan was not interested in working together with Umno.
When this question was put to him, he said he remembered saying as much during the state election campaign period but clarified that he was then referring to the “kleptocrats”.
“Our stand is very clear — we will not work with people who caused problems to the nation, but there are young people in Umno as well who are untainted and not part and parcel of the kleptocrats.
“In the case of Sabah, we have to look beyond political parties. We have to look at whether their position is the same as ours and that position is they must be talking about being Sabahans first,” he said.