Kota Kinabalu: Sabah DAP criticised Warisan Deputy President Datuk Darell Leiking for selectively recounting the cancellation of the project delivery partner (PDP) model for the Sabah Pan Borneo Highway while omitting his own party president’s role in proposing the move.
Its publicity secretary Thien Ee Hang in a statement on Saturday, said the former federal minister had focused on Lim Guan Eng’s announcement of the cancellation but conveniently ignored Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal’s involvement in initiating the proposal.
He accused Darell of misleading the public and shifting political responsibility onto rival parties.
“The irony is that Shafie himself acknowledged in the Dewan Rakyat on Oct 19 that, as Sabah chief minister in 2019, he personally recommended scrapping the PDP model to then finance minister Lim Guan Eng and then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“His admission is recorded in the official parliamentary Hansard. Darell cannot simply pretend it does not exist,” he said in responding to Darell’s remarks during the Warisan’s women’s and youth congress.
Thien said that as Warisan’s deputy president and a former federal Cabinet minister, Darell should be familiar with the circumstances surrounding the decision.
By focusing exclusively on Lim, he was creating the misleading impression that the Warisan-led state government had played no part in it.
He acknowledged that Lim, as the finance minister who announced the cancellation, and the federal government bore administrative responsibility for the decision.
“However, the fact that Lim announced the decision does not erase Shafie’s role in actively recommending it.
“Why is Darell directing all his criticism at Lim while refusing to question his own party president about the proposal he put forward?”Thien said contemporary news reports also documented the state government’s involvement.
On March 21, 2019, the Edge reported that Shafie had confirmed that the Sabah government, following detailed discussions with Lim and then works minister Baru Bian, had reached a consensus to discontinue the private PDP model.
On April 25 that year, Shafie publicly welcomed the federal government’s decision and questioned the arrangement allowing a private company to manage RM16 billion in project funds.
These are publicly available reports from the time. Together with Shafie’s admission in Parliament, they show that the Warisan-led state government knew about the decision, actively participated in the discussions and supported the policy direction,” he said.
Thien also cited a Bernama report dated March 22, 2024, in which then Sabah works minister Datuk Shahelmey Yahya said the change in the highway’s implementation model followed the state government’s decision to recommend terminating the PDP model and the related agreement.
He said Shafie’s subsequent acknowledgement in Parliament further reinforced that account.
Thien further revealed that Phoong Jin Zhe, who served in the state Cabinet under the Warisan-led administration, had personally told him that Shafie repeatedly expressed his position in favour of scrapping the PDP model during state Cabinet meetings.
According to Thien, Phoong had heard Shafie advocate the move while attending those meetings as a Cabinet member.
“This means Shafie’s position was not confined to discussions with federal leaders. He had also raised it repeatedly within the Sabah Cabinet.
“His own admission in Parliament that he recommended the cancellation to the federal government further underlines his role in the decision-making process.”Thien said Warisan should have the courage to explain and defend the position it took at the time.
“If you supported a decision, you must be prepared to own it. Shafie actively proposed scrapping the PDP model and offered what he considered sound reasons for doing so.
“Warisan should now explain that position openly. It cannot wash its hands of the matter and point fingers at other parties and leaders when problems arise and the public starts asking who was responsible.”He questioned why Warisan, having been confident enough to advocate and defend the change, was now unwilling to acknowledge its part in it.
“If a party cannot honestly confront its own policy record, and responds to controversy by shifting blame and looking for scapegoats, on what basis should the people trust it to govern again?“Sabahans have every right to ask whether such a party has the accountability and resolve needed to lead the state.”
