Parti Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal addressing supporters at the launchining of the party's election machinery in Sabah's interior Tenom town.
KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal has ventured into Sabah's interior district of Tenom, the political base of friend-turned-opponent Datuk Peter Anthony, in an effort to regain support for Parti Warisan.
His message to Tenom folk: reject Anthony, the former Warisan vice president who left to form Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) which is just there to split votes in favour of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS).
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"They (KDM) are placing candidates in certain seats as an attempt to split votes. You must be very cautious as Anthony and KDM are being used by GRS-Barisan to split our votes.
"Just reject KDM and the others working with them, focus all your support on Warisan," he said when launching the party's Tenom election machinery.
Repeating his battle cry that a local party will best serve the interests of Sabahans, he said both GRS and Sabah Barisan Nasional were driven by national parties, namely Bersatu and Umno respectively.
The Tenom seat is seen as one of the hotspots in the 15th General Election (GE15).
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In the 2018 general election, Warisan together with Pakatan Harapan won the Tenom seat through DAP candidate Noorita Suan while Anthony won the state seat of Melalap which is within the constituency.
Following the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan federal government in early 2020 and the Warisan Plus state government in September that year, Warisan has decided to go solo in GE15.
Anthony quit Warisan in December last year to form KDM, which he said was GRS-friendly.
It applied to join GRS but its status is still pending.
On May 26, Anthony was sentenced to three years’ jail and fined RM50,000, in default 15 months’ jail, after he was found guilty by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court of forging a letter for maintenance work at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).
Anthony has appealed the conviction on the 2014 offence, when he was still a businessman.
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After Shafie left Umno following his suspension in 2016, Anthony was among those who co-founded Warisan with him.
Both men were seen as close friends and Anthony's departure from Warisan amid his court case came as a surprise to many.
Shafie himself had held back from criticising Anthony's exit previously, but not in Tenom on Friday.
"I am friends with Peter (Anthony). But it is because of Warisan that he became a minister.
"He did nothing to solve (the) many problems here in Tenom.
"Today, people still struggle with getting clean water," he said.
Anthony has yet to indicate if he is going to contest the parliamentary seat.
Shafie also launched Warisan's Keningau and Pensiangan election machinery.
