KOTA KINABALU: Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) led by Datuk Seri Anifah Aman is determined to stop the culture of party hopping, highlighting "Recall Petition" as the main core of the party's manifesto.
With the latest power struggle at the federal level, this has further strengthened PCS' resolve to fight against "political frogging" and put an end to it.
"Party hopping has caused misery to Sabah and its people. This is why the party rolled out its Recall Petition as a pledge by the party to eliminate such a culture.
"We want to put an end to this disgusting party hopping culture. When PCS says we want to bring about change, we mean it. It's not just empty talk," said Anifah in a statement.
He said this in reference to Opposition leader and PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's statement yesterday, in which he claimed to have obtained a "strong, convincing and formidable" support among members of parliament to form a government.
Anwar's bold claim was followed by Umno President Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's brief statement, which also raised eyebrows.
Ahmad Zahid had said that a big number of Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs had voiced their support for Anwar to form a new government, and he respected these MPs decision.
The Bagan Datuk MP had also reiterated BN's stand that it was not part of the loose Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.
When commenting on this latest political development, Anifah said it is "a drama that beats any telenovela".
However, he said the current situation would probably bring more misery to the people.
"The economy is down. People have no jobs. People are suffering, and they are thinking what would happen to them. But the leaders, who we have put our trust in, are busy playing musical chair: they are fighting for power among themselves.
"Sabah is experiencing the same reality, but all these things are causing the people to suffer," said Anifah, who is a former foreign minister.
He noted that Sabah's economic growth has miserably dropped to 0.5 per cent last year from 8.2 per cent in 2017 since the Parti Warisan Sabah-led state government helmed by Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, came to power.
This, he said, was the reason PCS introduced the Recall Petition in its manifesto to prevent any political power struggle resulting from the party hopping phenomenon hurting the state and its people.
He pointed out this was the reason PCS selected state election candidates without any political baggage, and those without any history of party hopping. He said PCS candidates are committed in fighting for Sabah and the people.
"This is our chance to show that we have had enough of this party hopping culture and how our future is being gambled by those who are greedy for power.
"We have the power in our hands now when we go to vote. Use this power to put an end to this party hopping culture. Choose for the party that puts Recall Petition as its pledge.
"Choose a party that will ensure we are not being dragged into economic turmoil just because our leaders betrayed our mandate by jumping party."
Based on the PCS' Recall Petition, a constituency should be vacated if its elected representative opts to switch parties, resigns, or is fired from his/her party. A by-election should then be carried out to return the mandate to the people, the party said.
In the 16th state election, PCS is the only local-based party contesting in all 73 seats in the Sabah legislative assembly. Anifah is the party's chief ministerial candidate. He is contesting for the Bongawan seat in a four cornered-fight.