SANDAKAN: Chinese voters who supported Parti Warisan emphasised that their decision was not due to poor performance by DAP, nor was it an act of “punishment” against the party.

They were not worried that Chinese community interests would suffer if Warisan failed to form the state government.

Sin Chew Daily conducted random interviews with several Chinese voters in Sandakan to understand their reasons for supporting Warisan.

Some stressed that Sabah’s local culture and circumstances differ significantly from Peninsular Malaysia.

 In Sabah, no indigenous ruling party would dare openly insult or marginalise the Chinese community—even if they lacked Chinese support—so voters felt reassured that a state government without DAP would not jeopardise their rights, said the voters.

Several interviewees noted that in the past, whenever they faced basic utility issues like water and electricity supply, Sandakan member of parliament Vivian Wong and former Tanjong Papat assemblyman Datuk Frankie Poon Ming Fung would promptly step in and respond immediately upon request.

Now that the Warisan they voted for has become the opposition, they hope its elected representatives would do the same.

However, some expressed regret after casting their ballots.

They acknowledged that while DAP is clean and free of corruption, Warisan focused heavily on attacking DAP—ultimately ending up “heading nowhere,” as Warisan was unable to form the state government.

They worry this may hinder efforts to resolve day-to-day community issues in their constituencies.

For Mr. Jiang, a DAP supporter, the party had been the community’s only hope.

But after this defeat, he believes it will take at least 5 to 10 years to clean up the mess—a necessary transitional period for transformation.

 “Those people,” he said, “only see short-term gains.”

Lim, a 41-year-old fitness coach, remarked that even if DAP—contesting only 8 seats—had won every single one, it would still remain a minor party attached to a larger coalition in Sabah, with severely limited capacity to tackle major issues like water, electricity, roads, or the demand for Sabah’s 40% revenue claim.

He added that this outcome wasn’t because DAP was incompetent, but because Warisan contested all 73 seats, offering voters a more promising alternative to address these challenges.

He explained that his decision to support Warisan over DAP was based on comparisons across multiple dimensions: political ideology, attitude toward the Chinese community, commitment to Sabah’s rights, social justice, integrity, track record in office, and the 40% revenue claim.

Key factors included Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal being a moderate, open-minded Muslim indigenous leader; his admiration for Sarawak’s model of governance under the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition, which has enabled the state to extract significant concessions from the federal government; and the fact that Warisan candidates were not embroiled in any corruption scandals during the campaign.

“I’ve always leaned toward supporting Sabah-based local parties—I vote for the party, not the individual,” he said.

“But there was one election in the past where I voted for an independent candidate because the quality of the local party’s candidate was an issue,” he said.

Lim revealed that he had previously voted for DAP—but only during the one or two elections when DAP ran under Warisan’s banner.

Moreover, during the 18 months when Warisan governed in coalition with Pakatan Harapan, he experienced no frequent interruptions in water or electricity supply.

Hence, this time, he gave Warisan his vote, granting the party a chance to resolve these persistent issues.

Liu, a 32-year-old ride-hailing driver, disclosed that as a voter in the Sekong state seat—a constituency where DAP did not field a candidate—he lacked confidence in the other contesting parties and thus voted for Warisan.

He believes that one major reason Chinese voters collectively supported Warisan was due to online trend and the Warisan’s “brainwashing” speeches during the campaigns. Voters were easily convinced by Warisan’s slogan of “saving Sabah” while manifestl remained as lip service without delivery.

He added that Warisan’s Sekong assemblyman, Alias Sani had performed well, so this time he voted based on the candidate, not the party.

 “Since the ruling coalition has failed for years to solve basic utility problems, we might as well let the opposition try,” Liu said.

Still, he worries the next five years will be tough.

After all, Warisan is now in the opposition.

 “For small, day-to-day issues, Alias can act quickly—just message him, and he’d get things fixed. But now Warisan isn’t part of the state government,” he said.