Anifah: Anwar's PM bid is just election propaganda

SABAH POLLS | Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) president Anifah Aman does not believe that PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has the numbers to form a new government.

Instead, Anifah is of the view that Anwar's shock claim yesterday was mere propaganda in view of the Sabah election.

"It's part of the strategy lah... to attract voters to vote for PKR (in the Sabah elections)," he said when met at Pekan Bingkor today.

Anifah said it was impossible for Anwar to have the numbers because Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) had declared support for Muhyiddin Yassin to be prime minister.

"Mathematically, it is not correct," he added.

Yesterday, Anwar told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur that he had the numbers to form a new government and that the Muhyiddin administration had collapsed.

This was reinforced by Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who acknowledged that some Umno MPs had thrown their support behind Anwar.

Anwar's actual number of supporters remains a mystery. Only Amanah and DAP have openly pledged support for Anwar, while GPS and PAS are behind Muhyiddin.

Anwar had promised to release his list of supporters only after he was granted an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who is currently seeking treatment in a hospital.

Anifah was in Pekan Bingkor today to stump for Alphonsus Felix who is the PCS candidate for Bingkor. There are five other candidates, including incumbent Robert Tawik @ Nordin.

Read more: Sabah Decides 2020: Making sense of the players, parties and battles

During his speech, Felix told supporters that he wanted to "halau" (chase out) migrants who entered the country.

As for Anifah, he claimed that Warisan was part of a scheme to "legalise" unwanted migrants.

When asked how a PCS government would resolve the issue, Anifah did not provide specific policy examples.

"'PTI' is a very complex issue. We have to sit down with the federal government on how to address it. But I have an advantage because I know the Philippines government quite well," Anifah said. 

The former foreign minister said PCS wanted to deport unwanted migrants and this was "one of the ways" to deal with the matter.

Peace is also needed in the southern Philippines, he said, and a PCS government will help their economy to reduce the number of unwanted migrants coming to Sabah.

"So that's another way. There are so many solutions," he added.

Read more: The who's who is the Sabah 2020 election

The term "PTI" referred to pendatang tanpa izin (migrants who enter the country illegally) and is a regular buzzword used throughout the Sabah campaign.

According to the 2010 census, one in every four residents in Sabah is a non-citizen. The territory had the highest proportion of non-citizens in the country.

Malaysiakini is currently providing stories on the Sabah polls for free. Continue to support Malaysiakini and independent journalism by subscribing for as little as RM20 per month.

Follow Malaysiakini's coverage of the Sabah state election here.