Touting Warisan, Shafie says other parties only multiracial in name
Touting Warisan as a national party, its president Shafie Apdal contrasted it with other self-proclaimed multiracial parties based in Peninsular Malaysia which he said was only multiracial in name.
"The parties say they are multiracial but they are not multiracial. Which party is said to be multiracial? PKR? DAP?
"Who is the...
Touting Warisan as a national party, its president Shafie Apdal contrasted it with other self-proclaimed multiracial parties based in Peninsular Malaysia which he said was only multiracial in name.
"The parties say they are multiracial but they are not multiracial. Which party is said to be multiracial? PKR? DAP?
"Who is the president of PKR? Who is its deputy president? Who is its secretary-general? Who is its information chief?
The same applies to other parties which claim they are multiracial. It's only in name," he said.
In contrast, Shafie claimed the Warisan leadership reflected genuine multiculturalism.
"When Warisan was born, who is the president? Shafie Apdal, a Muslim with Malay roots.
"Who is the deputy? Darrell Leiking, who is a Christian. Who is the vice-president? Junz Wong, who is a Chinese. Who is the secretary-general? Loretto Padua. Who is the treasurer? Terrence Siambun. They come from all races," he added.
Shafie said there was no concern about the fact that his deputy is a Christian and contrasted the progress other countries have made.
"When I landed in London in 1975, I never expected that the mayor of London (Sadiq Khan) will be a Pakistani, never had one expected that the chancellor of the exchequer (Rishi Sunak) in the UK will be an Indian.
"There is no point to judge people by their colour and give positions to people of the same race if the country is paralysed by corruption and leakages," he said during a dialogue season after launching the Sabah-based Warisan's expansion as a national party in Kuala Lumpur this morning.
Shafie was asked how Warisan could set itself apart when there are already long-established multiracial parties in Peninsular Malaysia.
BN strayed from the formula
The former Umno vice-president was also asked why he had joined Umno in his early days in politics.
Shafie, who started off in Usno, said at the time, Sabah was plagued by instability and riots.
Following the dissolution of Usno, Shafie said Umno as a national party was viewed as an option to bring stability.
He added that while Umno was race-based, BN as a coalition was multiracial but over the years, it had strayed from the formula envisioned by the founding fathers.
"When we discussed in Umno matters related to the people, it seems to always focus on Malays," Shafie said.
He added that there was no denying the need to help the Malays but it felt hypocritical to only focus on the Malays and then later to have meals with MCA and MIC leaders.
As such, Shafie said when he was pushed out of Umno in 2016 for questioning the Umno president Najib Abdul Razak on the 1MDB scandal, he decided to form a multiracial party instead of the race-based Bersatu founded by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
"That's why I decided when Mahathir formed Bersatu. He offered me the position of deputy president. I said to Tun no more about this race-based (party).
"I am forming a multiracial Warisan," he stressed.
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