LETTER | I refer to the Malaysiakini report Sabah Harapan denies offering Warisan '60-40 formula'.

I’ve always been a proponent of a two-party system. I opine that in order to make Malaysia a greater nation, there is a need for political reform and for genuine democracy.

With regards to the recent issue of Pakatan Harapan offering 60 percent of state seats to Parti Warisan to contest in Sabah in exchange for the latter not to contest any parliamentary seats, I am personally against it.

My stand is that, I am more inclined to have Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be Harapan's prime ministerial candidate than accepting Warisan to dominate Sabah at the state level.

Parti Bersatu led by Mahathir is going to contest 52 parliamentary seats out of the 222 at the national level. It makes up only 24 percent of the total seats in Parliament.

Therefore, the notion that Bersatu is contesting the most seats among Harapan parties is untrue.

Based on the information given by Harapan's top leaders, it looks like PKR is assigned the majority of the parliamentary seats to contest including the earlier announced 51 seats in the peninsula and the ones in Sabah and Sarawak which is due to be announced.

In the peninsula, Amanah is allocated 27 seats and DAP 35 seats. It is known that the decision was made on the basis that no single party should hold a large majority, preventing one from becoming a dominant party.

Looking at the seat arrangement in the peninsula, Harapan has created a balance of power among themselves. Many have criticised DAP of being dominant in Penang, but one should know that DAP contested only 19 out of the 40 state seats, not even half the total number in Penang state seats.

The recent announcement by Sabah DAP chairperson, Stephen Wong offering 60 percent of Sabah state seats is uncalled for.

What is even worse is that the offer was subsequently turned down by Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking who claimed that Warisan could on its own win two-thirds of the state seats in the upcoming 14th general election.

Such an arrogant statement implied that Warisan desires to contest all the state seats in Sabah, otherwise how could they get a two-thirds majority?

Mahathir will turn 93 this year, and Harapan has pledged that should they become government, the PM's premiership is capped at two terms. This has also been included in Sabah Harapan's New Deal, setting out that the chief minister's post would not be extended after two terms.

In the event that a Harapan-Warisan partnership does materialise, would Warisan led by Shafie Apdal be willing to concur with such a proposal?

Before quitting Umno, Shafie's political career had always been on a high. If Warisan comes into power, there is a worry that we could see a Mahmud Taib-version CM in Sabah.

That one held power for 32 years in Sarawak before retiring from politics, far longer than Tun M's 22 years of premiership. Do we want to see a dictatorial-like CM in Sabah that wants to stay on in power eternally?

Furthermore, Harapan has also pledged that the CM will not hold the finance portfolio. The famous quote by Lord Acton, “absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely” is very relevant in our situation.

The balancing of power is needed to uphold a fragile democracy like Malaysia's. Many have said that Warisan is nothing more than just a one-man party helmed by Shafie himself.

If Warisan wins with a big majority in the upcoming election, can we be assured that there are mechanisms within Warisan to scrutinise this Semporna strong man? That seems doubtful.

And don't even get me started discussing about whether or not there would be good governance under Warisan in Sabah.

Conversely, even if Bersatu wins all their contested seats, it’s not possible for Mahathir to form the government on his own given that they have only a mere 24 percent of the parliamentary seats.

As such, Mahathir needs to cooperate with other parties such as PKR, Amanah and DAP to form a coalition government. Mahathir knows for a fact that what was practiced in his BN time would hardly be repeated in Harapan.

Under Harapan, Keadilan, Amanah and DAP will act as a check-and-balance to ensure that there is law and order.

If Harapan insists on offering 60 percent of state seats to Warisan or even an alarming 80 percent, then there will be nothing to stop a dictatorship from emerging in Warisan and threatening democracy.

Warisan is still a relatively new party and what they have shouted thus far is purely rhetoric.

Even though Umno only has 31 state seats which account for 52 percent of the total number of seats in Sabah, the tyrannical style of governance shown by Musa Aman is a good example of what Harapan should avoid.

Think about it, if an offer of 60 percent of the state seats is still considered unsatisfactory by Warisan, could they more greedy than Umno?

With 31 state seats, Umno Sabah is beset with scandals. So the question begs, is Shafie a clean man?

In short, I wish to reiterate that I am against the idea of Stephen Wong’s offer of 60% state seats to Warisan. Why should we care about Warisan? Why don’t we offer it to other local-based parties such as Parti Cinta Sabah and Parti Anak Negeri as well?

With more component parties working towards ensuring a check-and-balance, this will ultimately benefit the rakyat. We must reject BN because Umno has become recalcitrant and has repeatedly belittled democracy.

Opposition leaders must think and act wisely for the sake of the Sabah.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.