A Sabah state assembly member has hit back at Warisan leader Shafie Apdal for dodging her claim that Warisan had a direct role in the Kinabalu Move of January 2023 which attempted but failed to unseat Hajiji Noor as Sabah chief minister.
Norazlinah Arif, the assembly member for Kunak, who left Warisan shortly afterwards, said: “The reality is every Sabahan knows he was directly involved.”
She said Shafie made a particularly vague response to her by simply denying his role in the Kinabalu Move without presenting facts and instead resorting to making personal jabs at her.
“The clear evidence is when all Warisan assemblymen were gathered at the Magellan Sutera Harbour Resort at the time. Why didn’t he dare to give facts to deny Warisan’s role in the move? Why did he just make a vague statement?” she told FMT.
Shafie had been scheduled to hold a press conference at the resort amid talk that Hajiji’s government was about to collapse. The event was later cancelled, although members of the media and Warisan assemblymen were gathering there.
The following day, Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin, then a deputy chief minister, announced that Sabah Umno had withdrawn support for Hajiji. However, several Umno assemblymen refused to toe the party line, while Hajiji also received the backing of Pakatan Harapan.
Bung was then sacked from the state Cabinet while PH assemblymen were brought into Hajiji’s Cabinet.
Norazlinah had described the Kinabalu Move as the ultimate betrayal of Sabahans, when they were hoping that the federal unity pact would also translate into unity in the state government to prioritise the rakyat.
Shafie maintained that it was not his political move, but stemmed from a conflict between Hajiji and Bung. “We were in the opposition benches all the while,” he had said.
Norazlinah mocks ‘traitor’ label, fires back at Azis
Norazlinah fired back after being labelled as a “traitor” to Warisan. She said the party’s leaders and elected representatives were also mostly “traitors” in their own right.
Shafie was formerly an Umno vice-president, his deputy, Darell Leiking, was from PKR, and the party also accepted DAP assemblymen Justin Wong (Sri Tanjong) and Calvin Chong (Elopura), in 2022.
Norazlinah also said Warisan information chief Azis Jamman should “focus on his own problems”, after he cynically said he would help her lobby for a seat to contest on a Gabungan Rakyat Sabah ticket in the coming state elections.
She said Azis should be the one looking for a seat after having lost his Sepanggar parliamentary seat in the 2022 general election. Azis also does not hold a state seat.
“Unlike him, I don’t need to lobby (for a seat) by making statements. My hard work in Kunak is already proof (of my service) and will determine whether I will be re-elected by the people or not,” said Norazlinah, a two-term assembly member.
“I hope the people of Sabah will evaluate (Warisan) wisely and not be influenced by the slander they throw around. Don’t repeat past mistakes,” she said.
