Warisan to contest six seats in Johor polls, first time campaigning outside Sabah

JOHOR BAHRU: Parti Warisan will field six candidates in the upcoming Johor polls, the first time that the Sabah-based party is contesting outside of the East Malaysian state.

Warisan president Shafie Apdal told a press conference on Friday (Feb 25) that all six candidates, comprising a mix of young and experienced professionals are from Johor and not from anywhere else.

“We want to have a very strong opposition in the Johor state assembly for check and balance. This is also preparation to face the 15th general elections. This is the starting point for us in Peninsular Malaysia,” he said at the ceremony to announce his party’s candidates. .

Mr Shafie said they did not want to align themselves to any party or coalition, but rather to the people of Johor.

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“It’s not the politicians who can change the political landscape of the country. It is only the people of this country. If you want to change, this is the moment for us to change,” he said, adding that Warisan is a multi-racial party.

The six candidates are Hishamuddin Busri who will contest in Pekan Nanas, Sandara Segaran Arumugam who will contest in Bekok, Mohamed Noor Suleiman in Mahkota, Chen Hain Kai in Johor Jaya, Lee Ming Wen in Bukit Batu, and Mohamed Ridza Busu in Permas.

Mr Shafie said they were contesting to win the seats, but this would depend on the wishes of the people.

“We know it’s not easy, but we need to have confidence. Effort must also be there,” he said, adding that they were there to provide another choice to the voters.

He also said that they needed to reach every voter in each area they were contesting. 

This will be the first time that the Sabah-based party will be contesting outside the state. Warisan is not part of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) led opposition coalition that had entered into an agreement to avoid multi-cornered contests among each other. 

Nominations for the Johor polls will take place on Saturday morning.

EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO CONTEST: DAP 

At a separate press conference on Friday, Democratic Action Party (DAP) secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said that anyone was free to contest the election. 

“This is a democratic country. Everyone is entitled to contest. Even though they are from Sabah, they are Malaysians. They are allowed to come to Peninsular Malaysia to contest.

“We leave it to the people of Johor to decide if this party is worth their support and have they been consistently fighting for the rights. And they only come in during the elections, not before it. Let the public decide,” he said when asked about Warisan’s foray in the polls.

Mr Lim admitted that there was a concern that the crowded field would split the opposition votes, and thus benefiting the government. 

“Let the people see whether this is to strengthen the opposition or to strengthen Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional,” he said.

Asked about DAP’s chances in the election, Mr Lim said that it was tough but that they would not give up.

DAP will contest the 14 seats they won in the May 2018 election.

“We will put our best effort to retain these seats. As I have said before, we fight not to win one seat. We fight to win one seat to help us contribute towards winning the government in Johor,” said Mr Lim.

Early voting for the election will take place on Mar 8, while polling has been set for Mar 12.

Johor’s state assembly, which has 56 seats, was dissolved by Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar on Jan 22.

In the 14th state election that was held simultaneously with the federal elections in May 2018, the opposition coalition PH won 36 seats, Barisan Nasional (BN) won 19 seats, while Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) won one seat. 

It was the first time in Malaysia’s history that Johor, considered a BN stronghold and bastion of UMNO, fell to the opposition.

Following the results in 2018, PH presided over the Johor state government. However, following a political manoeuvre known as “Sheraton Move” in February 2020 that saw Bersatu leave PH, the coalition was ousted from the federal government.

The PH Johor state government also fell, and a new government, made up of BN and PN coalitions, took over.

BN’s Mr Hasni then served as chief minister before the state assembly was dissolved on Jan 22.

Prior to the dissolution, Mr Hasni justified that his state government needed a fresh mandate as it only held a slim majority following the death of former chief minister Osman Sapian in December last year.

Mr Hasni said that the election was necessary as the stability of the Johor state government was a prerequisite for investors and businesses to expand their operations in the state.

More than 2.59 million voters are eligible to cast their ballot in this state election, with the Election Commission (EC) targeting a 70 per cent voter turnout.