CM: Focus on managing country, not next PM

Shafie (centre) at the launching the state-level National Month and the Kibar Jalur Gemilang Month 2020.

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal said that the focus now is on managing the country and not who will become the Prime Minister candidate for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Plus coalition.

The Chief Minister stressed that the administration of the country and the state is far more important.

“Our focus should be on administration of our country and our state rather than on who will be the Prime Minister candidate.

“The people are more concerned about the administration rather than politics. (There is no use in) debating and coming up with statements on who should become Prime Minister,” he told reporters after launching the state-level National Month and the Kibar Jalur Gemilang Month 2020 at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) yesterday.

Shafie also said that he had met with Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, over rumours of the collapse of the Sabah government through the defections of its assemblymen.

Anwar has said that he is firmly behind Shafie’s administration in Sabah.

“We met in Parliament,” said Shafie.

“I have said before that the state government is stable. There are no issues except for the attempts by certain parties to destabilise it.

“But after meeting with my assemblymen, I’m very confident that they are strong-hearted even though they were enticed with various offers,” he added.

When asked whether Anwar had told him anything about Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s endorsement of him as the Prime Minister candidate, Shafie said that the issue would be discussed within Anwar’s party.

On Monday, the PH component parties, through a statement issued by DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu, have pledged to allow Anwar the first opportunity to form the government and become Prime Minister.

The two said that in the event Anwar fails to do so, a similar choice should be afforded to Shafie as both men have the solid support of 109 MPs in the Dewan Rakyat.

On June 25, Dr Mahathir, who is also Langkawi MP, said the decision to nominate Shafie as prime minister was reached unanimously at an informal meeting he had with his allies (Parti Amanah Negara, Warisan and DAP) at Rumah Tetamu Sabah in Kuala Lumpur.

The meeting also agreed to nominate Anwar as the candidate for the post of Deputy Prime Minister 1 and former deputy president of Bersatu, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir as Deputy Prime Minister 2.

Separately in his speech, Shafie reminded the people that the Jalur Gemilang serves as an identity for Malaysians.

“This flag is the torch that will lift the spirit of our people – to instil a feeling of love for the country in them,” he said.

He also said that one’s love for the country transcends political and religious beliefs and that it does not matter which state that person is from.

Earlier in the event, Shafie and the other cabinet members and state leaders listened to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin’s speech via a live telecast.

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