KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking should contest as an independent candidate in home base, Moyog, so that he can detach himself from the heavy baggage of Parti Warisan. By doing so, Darell will leave a wonderful legacy and be on the right side of history.

Each time that Darell got emotional in defending Parti Warisan from the widespread talk that his party is friendly to illegal immigrants, he revealed that he was kissing goodbye to his version of Parti Warisan.

It is on public record that top Warisan leaders have promised lands for illegals and a whole island for so-called refugees. A Warisan state minister, Junz Wong, plans to reclaim 200 acres of sea in his constituency, Tanjung Aru, for Gaya Island squatters. Another Warisan leader, Azis Jamman, was the deputy minister for home affairs, he was notorious for giving excuses that the Philippines do not want to take back deportees from Sabah. The Chief Minister, who is the supremo of Warisan, has repeatedly announced the approval of pump boats even though the security forces know that pump boats are the favourite means of transport for smugglers and criminals in Sabah’s east zone maritime area.

The infamous PSS (Pas Sementara Sabah) was vehemently proposed and defended by the entire Party Warisan leadership and their cohorts in DAP. Only the shocking defeat at the Kimanis by-election in January put a stop to the PSS.

At the same time, we hear nothing and see nothing about Warisan doing anything to solve the illegal immigrant problems in Sabah.

In Penampang, everyone remembers Darell’s loud and clear promise to scrap the Kaiduan dam, now renamed Papar dam. When Darell was still a senior member of the Federal Cabinet, his cabinet colleague Xavier Jayakumar, the Minister for Water, had revealed that the Sabah Warisan government had approved the Papar dam project. The Warisan government even selected a contractor to undertake the planning and implementation of the Papar dam project. The reported project costs escalated from RM2 billion to RM3 billion. This same company is linked to the controversial Penang Undersea tunnel project.

It is crystal clear that Darell has succumbed to more powerful personalities in Parti Warisan. Darell now has to bear heavy baggage of the Papar dam and the illegal immigrants issue.

The fact that Darell has been speculated to contest in the Inanam constituency means that he is having difficulties to secure his own seat at his own home base, which is Moyog. If Darell takes my advice to contest as an Independent candidate at Moyog, then he can offload the heavy Warisan baggage and place himself on the right side of history.-

Datuk Yong Teck Lee
SAPP President