By BORNEOTODAY REPORTERS
KOTA KINABALU: Legal action will be taken against Anifah Aman, the Foreign minister, over insinuations he allegedly made that Parti Warisan Sabah were a ‘party of pirates’ who wanted to claim their ancestral rights to the state.
Shafie Apdal, the Warisan president said the party’s lawyers were in the process of compiling various documents before the suit is filed any day now.
Met at the Society of Hope Kota Kinabalu charity dinner here on Friday, when asked by the media about his suit against Anifah, Shafie replied with an emphatic “yes”.
“The party is handling the matter. Police report has been lodged and we’re piecing together the case before the lawyers proceed from there,” he said.
Asked to comment on the tit-for-tat war in both the mainstream as well as social media, Shafie remarked: “We didn’t start it, did we.”
The Semporna federal lawmaker said that under the Constitution, there are several ethnic groups in Sabah listed out, and the Bajau is one of them.
“I am a Bajau,” Shafie added.
He also said it was baffling why a senior minister of Anifah’s standing would make such remarks.
During a Chinese New Year function on February 9 for his Kimanis constituents at a hotel here, Anifah was alleged to have linked Shafie’s ancestry to illegal immigrants.
He had also purportedly accused Warisan of trying to resurrect the Sulu Sultanate’s claim on Sabah.
But when met by reporters after the dinner function, Anifah allegedly denied his utterances were aimed at his political rival
Loretto Padua Jr, the Warisan secretary-general lodged a police report over Anifah’s speech on February 14, and this was followed by similar reports made by the party’s divisions statewide.
After lodging the police report, Padua said it was felt that the speech was seditious and damaging, both for the party and Shafie.
He said Warisan wants Anifah to be investigated for alleged defamation and other issues as it was also felt that the speech could be deemed as inciting the people.
Padua said the speech by the minister concerned had insulted a particular Sabah ethnic group, and contained many untruths as well as innuendo.
Apart from lodging the report, he attached a copy of the transcript of the speech as well as a copy of the audio recording to facilitate investigations.
Since then, it has been a war of words between both parties.
The alleged speech by Anifah was uploaded on social media by Warisan supporters while Anifah’s supporters also uploaded a recording which they claimed was the original one.
Earlier Friday, Ronald Kiandee (Beluran) and Raimie Unggie (Tenom), two Sabah Umno federal lawmakers, issued statements in support of Anifah.
Even Beaufort lawmaker, Lajim Ukim, who heads the opposition Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah jumped into the fray to admonish Shafie and Warisan for what he termed as a racial debate.
On February 20, Jihek Basanu, Anifah’s political secretary, lodged a police report, saying Padua had twisted Anifah’s words that night.
In response, Padua said he stood by what he had said.
The dinner function, organised by PKR Sabah, was also attended by Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who heads the national opposition party.
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