Phoong
KOTA KINABALU (June 8): Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sabah secretary Phoong Jin Zhe has called on Warisan president Datuk Seri Panglima Shafie Apdal to stop being hypocritical.
“In response to Parti Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal’s statement, I find it extremely unfair to accuse DAP as arrogant for defending seats that we won in GE14 (14th General Election), namely Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tenom. On the contrary, he is the one that has repeatedly turned down the idea of the ‘big tent’ and even saying that PH (Pakatan Harapan) Plus is gone in Sabah, who is the egoistic and arrogant one now? We have extended olive branches several times and I personally openly pledge to initiate cooperation between both parties to meet the aspiration of the people, it is hypocritical of Shafie to say that this is one-way traffic, he is the one that turned down all these opportunities to discuss in a respectful manner,” said Phoong.
Phoong, who is also Luyang assemblyman, reminded that any cooperation must be based on mutual respect, principles and common values.
“We gave our unwavering and unanimous support to Warisan under Shafie’s leadership especially during the 2020 Sabah elections and until today, we never tried to claim any seats that were won by Warisan in 2018 or 2020 but on contrary, Warisan contested in three DAP incumbent seats in Johor and earlier on, a Warisan supreme council member has openly announced that they will be contesting in all three seats in Sandakan. Who is the one being arrogant now is clear. Stop making DAP or UPKO or PH the scapegoat for your own shortcomings after failing to get the majority to form the government,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
He added that when DAP continued to pull the Opposition bloc together to stop the comeback of the Barisan Nasional and Umno hegemony, it seems that Shafie and Warisan had decided to go solo to fight with everyone especially in Johor polls.
“On the 4th of June, DAP Secretary-General Anthony Loke said that the door for cooperation remained open but Shafie told the press that Warisan will focus on strengthening itself and not cooperate with the PH and Opposition bloc.
“It is hypocritical at its best while Warisan is extending olive branches to Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) yesterday right after declaring that it would not form any coalitions two days ago.
“What is more hypocritical is that Warisan has been attacking the GRS-BN government everyday but now they want to work with the ruling party?” said Phoong.
“Not only that but Shafie urging the Federal Government to introduce the Anti-Hopping Law Act today is another hypocrisy at its best. If Shafie’s feelings are now hurt by his ex-members Rina, Peter, Yusof and others defecting, why did he accept political frogs such as Calvin Chong, Justin Wong and Bryan Lai? What goes around comes around. As Confucius says, if one does not want others to treat him in a certain way, he himself should be the first not to treat others that way,” he said.
He added that when DAP and PH signed the MoU to pressure the government to introduce the anti-hopping bill, Warisan even pulled all sorts of accusations and attacked the PH and Opposition bloc.
“Now they shift their stance and agree that this is a bipartisan effort that should be supported, how hypocritical can they be?” he said.
Phoong also claimed that the former Minister of Finance, Lim Guan Eng was the first Minister of Finance that doubled the special grant for Sabah since the 1970s and this showed that DAP respected Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners.
“And recently, PH Sabah filed a legal action against the Federal Government of the day to reclaim the 40% revenue, this shows that PH Sabah is firm in defending the rights of Sabah. Other than joining the efforts of PH Sabah, Shafie decides to blame DAP and Lim Guan Eng. If Shafie wants to shift the blame to Lim Guan Eng, he must reflect on himself first, he was an Umno Federal Minister from 2004 to 2015, why only point fingers now?
“Last but not least, I reiterate DAP’s stance once again. I have said that all parties that share the common vision of rejecting Umno and BN should come together and form a team of ‘Avengers’ for the people and not personal interests. It is fine if Shafie decides to decline the call for unity among the Opposition but stop being hypocritical and stop making baseless allegations towards us,” said Phoong.