KOTA KINABALU, Feb 26 — Following the exit of Sebatik assemblyman Hassan A. Gani Pg Amir from Parti Warisan Sabah yesterday, the party’s deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking said that some politicians unfortunately cannot stomach being in the Opposition.

In a Facebook post, the Penampang MP said that it had unfortunately become common practice to “jump” parties for political reasons.

“We are taught to forgive (as it is divine) and we must, but we will never forget how they had abandoned their cause easily more so when some cannot tahan or ‘cannot bear’ to represent that cause as an opposition representative,” he said.

Leiking, who is also Moyog assemblyman, said that during the time Warisan was in government for 22 months at the federal level and 26 months at the state level, they had “lost” many allies who left, and bad mouthed the party in the process.

“To each his or her own. That I guess is the way of life some profess and some unfortunately had made a norm,” he said.                                                                      

Leiking said that during his five years as a first term MP from 2013 to 2018 for PKR at the time, he and other comrades faced many challenges but did not consider jumping ship.

“Myself and some of my elected comrades had served five years as the Opposition and we had been through some challenges politically, but we never wavered to cross over to the government of the day despite all the shortcomings, all the demands, all innuendoes, all personal attacks and even fiscal enticement offers.

“We cannot negotiate or compromise what we were elected to be more so as an individual,” he said.

Hassan yesterday announced that he was quitting the party, saying he found Warisan prioritised politics over the well-being of the people.

The first term assemblyman said he was now an independent assemblyman supporting the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government as well as the leadership of Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

He cited Warisan’s rejection of the Budget 2021 in Parliament and said it was easier to serve his constituency as part of the government.

Warisan currently has 21 assemblymen in the 79-member State Assembly.