We’re not Mahathir’s proxy, says Warisan

Secretary-general Loretto Padua Jr says the rumour gone viral is some cybertroopers’ fantasy.

(FMT) – Parti Warisan Sabah has brushed off allegations that it’s a proxy for former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s political party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM).

“This is not true at all. Perhaps this rumour had been made viral by some conspiracy-theorist cybertroopers who are not responsible at all in what they say,” Warisan secretary-general, Loretto Padua Jr said in a statement, today.

Warisan also denied it intends to take control of Sabah if Umno loses power.

Padua was responding to a comment piece in FMT, “Orang Asal dismiss Shafie as Dr M’s proxy” published on Sept 27 by Joe Fernandez. The article said some members of the Orang Asal community in Sabah saw Shafie Apdal as Mahathir’s proxy.

Padua pointed out before the formation of Warisan, most of its leaders have been fighting tooth and nail for Sabah and their own constituencies without help from Dr Mahathir.

However, he added there has not been any “massive” movement to topple the UMNO Sabah regime since 1994, like the one currently spearheaded by Warisan.

“What we are seeing here is something that the Sabahans have been waiting for, for a long time, the emergence of a local party could finally wrestle half of the 60 state assembly seats currently held by Umno Sabah and other seats.

“Granted, there had been a lot of character assassination attempts against Warisan’s young leaders with the main intention of confusing the Sabahans so that they will forget the main aim of defeating Umno Sabah.”

Warisan plan for 2017 was to rejuvenate grassroots support and strengthen the party, he said.