KOTA KINABALU, Jan 8 ― Support from the Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) community for Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) is still strong, said its President Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal.

The leaders of the party’s KDM bureau are still with the party, he said, adding that the KDM community was Warisan’s strongest link.

Shafie however lamented that former Warisan Vice President Datuk Peter Anthony’s intention to form a new party will cause division among the KDM community.

"The sad part is he (Peter) will divide the KDM even more, that is for sure. The KDM community is already very divided (and) another party will further divide the people,” he said.

Shafie said this when met after a private screening of the documentary on him titled ‘I am DSSA’ on Friday afternoon. The hour-long film depicted Shafie and Warisan’s trials and tribulations especially during the time it governed the state.

It also showed Warisan’s continued efforts to help the people in Sabah even after it was no longer in power.

According to Shafie, what he wants to do is unite the KDM community and he has made this intention clear all this while.

"I want to unite them and that was why from Day 1, I offered PBS and Dr Jeffrey (Sabah STAR) to work with us,” he disclosed.

Shafie added that after being in Umno and working with the federal government for more than 30 years, he saw the failures that occurred and decided to work with Pakatan Harapan (PH).

"So many efforts were made working with PH so now we decided to work with Malaysians as a whole,” he said.

On his collaboration with Parti Ikatan Demokratik Malaysia (Muda), Shafie said that this was because he wants to ensure that the younger generation will be involved in the development of the country.

"This is also part and parcel of my contribution to regenerate younger leaders,” he said.

Shafie also opined that people cannot compare Sabah with Sarawak especially in the aspect of unity as the latter had never been governed by any party from Peninsular Malaysia.

Since its independence Sarawak was administered by PBB and the people in the state are very united, he stressed.

"(So) we cannot say that we want to follow Sarawak, if we want to follow then don’t work with BN, Pas or Bersatu,” he said, adding that Warisan is still the biggest party in Sabah.

On Warisan’s expansion to Peninsular Malaysia, Shafie said the party was well received by many from the mainland and Warisan is also reaching out to Sabahans there. ― Borneo Post