Shafie Stop Racial Politics Before Sabah Breaks Apart

---

Warisan president Shafie Apdal has called for racial unity in his campaign for stronger state rights, but admitted that Sabah’s politics remain trapped in such divisions.
The former Sabah chief minister said decades of racial politics and power concentration have left Sabah divided, poor, and struggling to move forward.
He said Warisan was founded to unite communities and defend the state’s rights under the Federal Constitution, not to compete for power or position.
“Warisan is a party formed for all races. Our deputy president (Darell Leiking) is a Kadazan, and our secretary-general (Loretto Padua Jr) is a Dusun from Keningau.
ADS“Our vice-presidents come from different backgrounds - Brunei, Kadazan, and Malay.
“That is what Warisan represents,” he told supporters during his “Aspirasi Jelajah” programme in Tungku, Lahad Datu, on Tuesday.
Shafie said the party’s goal was to defend Sabah’s land and resources, rights guaranteed under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
“There is no point forming a party if the rights of Sabahans disappear, if our land, oil, and gas are taken away. We created this party to protect what belongs to us,” he added.
He also stressed that Warisan was never anti-federal, saying he had worked with former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and even former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, who once met Sabah’s Bugis community at his invitation.
“Cooperation is not the problem. What matters is that we defend Sabah’s rights under the Federal Constitution. It is our constitutional right,” he said.
Sabah’s divided politics
Shafie lamented that politics in Sabah had become increasingly fragmented along ethnic and regional lines, with too many parties fighting for influence rather than progress.
“Today, we see people quarrelling over seats, divided by race, by district, by party. How many parties do we need in Sabah?” he said.
He also ridiculed the endless formation of new parties, naming several to show how the state’s political landscape has splintered.
“From Akar (Angkatan Keadilan Rakyat) to Star (Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku), to the rocket (DAP), to (Parti) Impian (Sabah) - how many more? Do we want dreams, or do we want jobs, land, and water for our people?” he asked.
Shafie’s words were in view of Warisan's own challenges, such as in Tawau, where certain individuals raised their concerns over perceived power concentration of his party, which they called “Sempornisation.”
ADSShafie is from Semporna and serves as its MP.
He said the term reflected how politics built on fear and division had left Sabahans disconnected from one another.
Equal partners and lost wealth
Shafie reminded supporters that Warisan was the first party to push for constitutional amendments to restore equality between Sabah, Sarawak, and Peninsular Malaysia.
In 2019, under his administration, the first attempt to amend Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution failed when Sarawak parties abstained.
When the amendment returned in 2021 under the then law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, Warisan again voted in favour.
“I told Mahathir, Sabah is not a state, it is a region, equal to Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia) and Sarawak,” he said.
The amendment, which came into force in 2022, recognised Sabah and Sarawak as the Borneo states, a milestone Shafie said laid the groundwork for future reforms.
He also criticised the Petroleum Development Act 1974 for giving Petronas full control over Sabah’s oil and gas resources, and leaving the state with only five percent of its revenue.
“If this were a business partnership, the owner would go bankrupt while the partner gets rich,” he said.
As then chief minister, Shafie introduced a sales tax on petroleum products in 2019, a policy that later allowed the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah government to collect more than RM2 billion after Warisan’s fall in 2020.
“That revenue was made possible by Warisan’s policy. We built the foundation, they enjoyed the benefits,” he said.
As Sabah heads into a crucial state election on Nov 29, Shafie’s message remains clear: unity, equality, and constitutional fairness must replace the politics of race and rivalry.
“We must learn from our mistakes.
“Sabah’s strength lies in our diversity, not in division,” he said. - Mkini

---