With clear ideas of its own, Warisan leader says party prefers to go solo in GE15

KUALA LUMPUR, October 23 — Parti Warisan (Warisan) is not keen on forming alliances in the peninsular for the 15th general election (GE15), its local chief coordinator Dr Rajiv Bhanot said.

Acknowledging this would be challenging given the level of the party’s popularity here, Dr Rajiv insisted the move was correct as allying with Pakatan Harapan after the previous general election had not been enough to save the Warisan government in Sabah.

“I think over here in Peninsular Malaysia we are very clear that we would be going into GE15 on our own. That is confirmed,” he told Malay Mail in a recent interview.

“Because again, we have got clarity in every one of the policies we are championing. We’ve got clarity in the direction we want to bring this country towards and the only way we see that happening, is if we have the independence going into GE15 on our own.

“The party has launched as a national party and we are here in Peninsular Malaysia, it’s not going to be easy and we got to be realistic on our expectations here in Peninsular Malaysia, but we will be contesting in GE15 over here and we are not afraid to go at it on our own.”

Despite the party’s novelty, he said Warisan managed the unimaginable when it took control of the Sabah government in 2018.

“I think what you see with Warisan is what you get,” Dr Rajiv said, saying that his party is now focused on “building its house”, strengthening its base and party machinery, and becoming a stabilising force after GE15.

“In order for us to do that, we have to capture as many parliamentary seats as we can and this where party’s focus is at the moment now. So, we are not thinking what happens after the election. We want to consolidate ourselves now,” he said.

Dr Rajiv said that after falling to the treachery of the Sheraton Move, Warisan still served as an effective Opposition party, doing its part as a check-and-balance, and supporting reforms such and Undi18 and the anti-party hopping law.

Asked about Warisan’s strengths, he said the party leadership aimed to put forward candidates of quality.

“After what we have seen in GE14, I don’t think voters are blindly going to vote along party lines. So, we are in the process of identifying very strong local candidates,” he said.

Dr Rajiv said that while Warisan could be seen as overambitious by going national, he said its expansion was realistic as it was not trying to prematurely enter states such as Pahang and Terengganu, and was instead focusing on seats where it could win.

After the 2018 general election, Warisan cooperated informally with the Pakatan Harapan coalition to form the federal government as well as the Sabah government.

After the Sheraton Move of 2020, ties between Warisan and PH, particularly PKR, became strained after Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal proposed himself as a candidate to be prime minister, spoiling the contest between Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim then.

Since then, Warisan has drifted steadily away from PH, leading to the party’s expansion here and culminating in its declaration that it would contest all the federal seats in Sabah during GE15, eschewing cooperation with its former allies.

In the Dewan Rakyat in September, Shafie criticised PH leaders for agreeing to cooperate with now caretaker PM Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government on institutional reforms.

The Semporna MP reminded his fellow Opposition lawmakers that they had been elected to federal power in GE14, but had their mandate “stolen” from them.