Dr M: Difficult for Pakatan to win Sabah
MOHD NASARUDDIN PARZI
New Straits Times30 January 2018
KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has admitted it would be difficult for Pakatan Harapan to win over Sabah.
The Pakatan Harapan chairman said it would be a challenge for the opposition pact if Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) were to contest the same seats.
He said, due to that, efforts were being made to make sure that such a situation would not arise.
“DAP, PKR and Parti Amanah Negara are in Sabah and they are working together in the state as they realise Warisan is there. If we (Pakatan Harapan and Warisan) decide to go against each other, no one will profit from it. A partnership might happen between Pakatan Harapan and Warisan,” Dr Mahathir, who is also PPBM chairman, told reporters at the party’s headquarters here.
Meanwhile, he said a special committee would be set up to decide seat allocations in Selangor.
This follows the failure of the opposition pact’s election committee to come to an agreement after negotiations between the parties broke down.
On another matter, Dr Mahathir urged the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to state the registration status of Pakatan Harapan.
“Until today, there are no updates from RoS,” he said.
Dr Mahathir alleged RoS was deliberately taking its time to update the status of the opposition pact in order to leave them unprepared for the upcoming general election.
“We do not know if our logo is approved or otherwise. And, we are not sure if the pact (Pakatan Harapan) has been officially recognised or not,” he said.
On the dissatisfaction of PPBM grassroots members over seat allocations in several states, Dr Mahathir said this was being resolved by party leaders.
“We have solved almost all the issues raised. There is still time to fix it such as the disagreement on the seats.
“We are confident that when the General Election is happening, we will be able to name a candidate for every parliamentary and state assembly area,” he said.
Dr Mahathir also claimed that the seat allocation disagreement is not a matter that will divide the opposition pact.
Several grassroots members of the party had recently voiced dissatisfaction over seat allocations among Pakatan Harapan parties, with the most recent incident happening in Negri Sembilan on Sunday.
The Pakatan Harapan convention there descended into chaos as soon as PKR and Pakatan Harapan president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ibrahim finished her speech, as a group of PPBM members shouted that the seat allocation was not fair. They also heckled her during a press conference held after the convention. © New Straits Times Press
