KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) has clarified that they are not with Pakatan Harapan (PH) on the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Transformation and Political Stability with the government.
This was because the Sabah based party said they were not involved in the deal from the beginning.
Wira Warisan chief Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman said his party was only invited at the final stage after PH and the government had negotiated and agreed to sign the MoU.
He said, there should be sincerity among the opposition bloc regarding the MoU and Warisan should not be asked merely to agree with PH's decision on the matter.
"From the beginning, the opposition bloc which has 105 parliamentary seats should be called, need to sit down and discuss before meeting the Prime Minister. There must be sincerity.
"This was not so, only after several meetings (with government representatives), we were called and told to on the move to make a MoU.
"Don't make us a yes men, the president of Warisan is not a 'rubber stamp'," he told BH, today.
He was commenting on a statement by PH whip coordinator Anthony Loke who denied that they sidelined other opposition parties in the negotiation process with the government over the Transformation and Political Stability MoU.
Loke said a special briefing on the contents of the MoU was presented by the top leadership of PH to the president of Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, yesterday afternoon.
He said they also invited Warisan representatives for the briefing, but they were not present.
"We understand Pejuang and Warisan are not ready to sign a MoU with the government.
"PH respects their stand. Still, it doesn't mean we can't work together on other issues," Loke reportedly said.
Meanwhile, Azis, who is also the Sepanggar Member of Parliament, said Warisan's involvement in the MoU from the beginning was important so that the needs of the Sabah people were considered.
He said if Warisan was engaged from the beginning they would have emphasised on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) as one of the points in the MoU.
"If Warisan was engaged from the beginning, we would have stressed on the Malaysia Agreement 1963. The needs of the people of Sabah and Sarawak must be heard in the opposition bloc.
"We don't even know what the contents of the MoU were. We only knew at 5pm. I heard there are similarities with the offer made by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin before.
"If we don't know the contents )are), how can Warisan sign," he said.
The government and PH agreed to sign a MoU to restore the country's political stability to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.
Representatives from the government and PH in a joint statement last night said the signing of the MoU would aid in the country's economic recovery through a 'dual-partisan' cooperation approach between both parties.
The MoU will be signed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and PH party leaders at the Dewan Bankuet, Parliament today at 5pm.
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