Don T Disturb Us Or We Will Put Up A Fight Shafie Warns Pn

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Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal (right) speaking after a meeting with his MPs and assemblymen in Kota Kinabalu today.KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal was in a combative mood today, issuing another strongly-worded warning to the Perikatan Nasional government amid the alleged political pressure being put on his elected representatives
A visibly agitated Shafie spoke of how he would not relent in the face of PN’s “grand plan” to convince his MPs and assemblymen to ditch the Warisan-DAP-PKR-Upko state coalition and join them
He said this grand plan involved promising political rivals positions and financial gains to join their ranks
The Warisan president claimed that one of his MPs, Mohammadin Ketapi (Silam), had been contacted by former Umno federal minister Anifah Aman on three separate occasions to leave. Anifah is currently trying to cobble together local-based parties to merge under the soon-to-be-registered Gagasan Rakyat Sabah party
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Sabah MPs and assemblymen amid the political uncertainty, he said Mohammadin, who is in Kuala Lumpur now, had turned down the advances
“But we know, the moment we say ‘no’, there will be political intimidation,” said the Semporna MP
Shafie also questioned the timing of the money laundering probe by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Warisan’s vice-president Peter Anthony, who is the state infrastructure development minister
“Why now? It will definitely not be so easy — we are going to fight back. This is our state and our country, we have every right
“But you don’t try and pressure us. We have Parliament (this July) and I can tell you guys I’m not going to shut my mouth
“Remember the last election when they intimidated us? I spoke in Parliament. Let it be heard by all Malaysians — is this the government that you want? Is this the way we run the country? This is unbecoming
“Don’t disturb the state of Sabah; don’t disturb Sabahans. The moment you disturb, we will fight back,” Shafie said
At the same time, the Senallang assemblyman reiterated his surprise at the timing of Anthony’s case with the acquittal of former chief minister Musa Aman’s on 46 money laundering and corruption charges
“And what happened to the investigation into the Sabah Water Department case where millions of ringgit were found?”On the meeting today, Shafie said most of the 47 elected representatives, including four nominated assemblymen, were in attendance and pledged their loyalty to the present administration, with the priority of developing the state
Besides Mohammadin, those absent were Sepanggar MP Azis Jamman, Upko’s assemblymen James Ratib (Sugut), Limus Jury (Kuala Penyu) and DAP’s Calvin Chong (Elopura)
According to Shafie, Mohammadin could not come as he was moving house in Kuala Lumpur. The others apologised to him for being unable to attend as they had urgent matters to attend to although they had expressed their support for the state government
Meanwhile, he hoped the MACC will not be biased and instead take proper action to look into the “efforts” to prise his elected reps away
“How can you bribe people with positions and other perks? This should not happen,” he said, claiming other MPs from his state coalition have also been approached
“I did not promise (Upko president) Wilfred Madius Tangau and Ewon Benedick with positions before (to switch allegiance from Barisan Nasional to Warisan) although I later appointed them as ministers.”He added that he did not promise any reward to other assemblymen, who have joined Warisan from other parties
As such, Shafie said all the leaders still with him, including the eight MPs from Warisan, three from DAP, two from PKR and one from Upko, had promised to remain firm behind the current leadership
“We have our values and our pride
“We are united in our stand. It’s time for Sabahans to stand firm and not be used as tools,” he said
He said he had told current Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin that he had no problem in working together with his administration on a government-to-government basis
“But, politically, you run your party, I will run mine,” Shafie said. - FMT

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