KOTA KINABALU, Feb 28 — Parti Warisan Sabah maintained its support for Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to remain prime minister even as new candidates emerged today.
Its permanent chairman Datuk Liew Vui Keong said that the party has not wavered in its decision from the beginning, but added that it is adopting a “wait and see” approach due to the fluid political situation.
“Our stance is still as before. Warisan is with Tun M,” he told Malay Mail when contacted this afternoon for comment following the nomination of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to be the eighth PM.
Liew indicated that Warisan is still keeping its options open.
“We wait and see. Until then everything is still blurry,” he said.
His statement is consistent with Warisan president and Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal’s statement last night that the party, which has nine MPs, was still behind Dr Mahathir.
Recently, Liew also said that Warisan was not a part of the plan or the “unity dinner” held Sunday night Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya, which ostensibly triggered the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan administration.
According to a Bernama report, Shafie said “yes, of course” when asked whether he was still supporting Dr Mahathir. He was approached by reporters when visiting Muhyiddin’s residence in Bukit Damansara last night.
He, however, left after several minutes because it was understood that Muhyiddin was not at home.
Warisan, a local Sabah-based multiracial party, is allied with Pakatan Harapan leaders to run the Sabah state government but is not officially a part of the national coalition.
Shafie has said that the party will always cooperate with the federal government of the day, in the interest of the state.
He has repeatedly supported Dr Mahathir’s government, even before the latter’s resignation, as well as after.
