KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 — DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said a collaboration with Parti Warisan Sabah for the next general election (GE15) seemed unlikely due to the cold reception from the state party.
In his weekly session of Jawab Jujur Anthony (Honest Talk with Anthony) on Facebook today, Loke divulged that there were no talks between the two parties during his recent trip to Sabah.
“I said openly in Sabah, to collaborate, we need sincerity from both sides. We have stated our sincerity and openness, and it is now up to Warisan to accept it.
“But the reception from Warisan seemed to be that they did not like to discuss collaborating,” he said during the session which was streamed “live” on DAP’s official Facebook page.
Loke added that Warisan leaders called him “arrogant” for laying down ground rules before talks even materialised.
“I am not being arrogant. I merely stated that DAP wants to defend our seats as we did not contest that many seats. Just three, of which we won all,” he said.
Yesterday, Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said DAP should not set conditions when seeking talks with the party over possible cooperation during GE15.
He was commenting on Loke’s condition that DAP was willing to work with other Sabah parties as long as it retained the right to contest the three parliamentary seats currently held, namely Tenom, Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu.
“This is one-way traffic... we cannot be too arrogant,” he told reporters at the Warisan headquarters in Kolombong yesterday.
Last Sunday, DAP-turned-Warisan man and former Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi said a political tie-up between the two parties seemed unlikely to happen.
