PETALING JAYA: Parti Warisan candidate for Pandan parliamentary seat Tan Sri Ong Tee Keat said no single political camp in the country can rule alone after the 15th general election.

“None of Barisan Nasional, Perikatan Nasional or Pakatan Harapan can rule alone. They need to look for a new partner to form a joint government.”

It’s numbers game and none else

Ong told Sin Chew Daily the new government will be one that is put together hastily without taking into consideration the compatibility of individual components’ ideologies.

“This is least of their concern. They only care about the numbers: how many seats you have and how many seats I have, and whether we can form a simple-majority government by putting the numbers together. That’s all!”

He said it would be like the cooperation between PN and BN after the Sheraton Move, adding that such an alliance would be extremely weak.

“They don’t have a common belief as the foundation of their collaboration. All they care is whether the numbers put together can form a new government.

“Such a joint government can collapse anytime. And once the government collapses, they will look for new partners.”

Populism rules

Owing to the uncertainty of the new government, Ong said the re-tabling of the 2023 Budget could be a problem.

“They knew very well the election would be coming soon, but still insisted to put forward this budget that has plenty of populist elements in it. Their purpose was to fish the people’s support. This is easily visible!

“Obviously they had the political considerations in mind in rushing through this budget.”

To Ong, the offer of deputy prime minister posts by both BN and PH is purely done out of political consideration.

“If not because their prospects are not that good, I believe they wouldn’t have made such a proposal. We never had something like that in the past!”

A prime minister must serve all Malaysians irrespective of race and religion, said Ong, adding that both former prime minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Parti Keadilan Rakyat president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim were key factors galvanizing intercommunity disharmony and polarization in the country.

The Warisan legacy of harmony

He also said the biggest reason he had joined Parti Warisan was because he agreed with the party’s ideologies.

“I chose Warisan not because it was a big party or a popular one.”

As a part of the nation and once a part of the country’s administrative system, Ong said he did not want to see the country sink further into the pit of despair, and hoped to see it return to its basic fundamentals.

“This is the dream I pursue, one that I believe many other Malaysians would also long to see.

“I have no idea how many years it will take or how this dream will be fulfilled. Perhaps I won’t live to see it, but I hope my children and grandchildren will.”

Ong said Warisan could promote the racial harmony model of East Malaysia here in peninsular Malaysia.

He nevertheless reiterated that Warisan is not a “Sabah party” but a party from Sabah that has become a national party today.

With the coronavirus pandemic now tapering off, the priority should be to revitalize the ailing national economy, but this is only possible with political stability which in turn is determined by racial relations and the confidence of Malaysians.

He asserted that Warisan’s president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal is one of very few political leaders who never make any remark that will hurt the feelings of other races in the country.