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KOTA KINABALU: Lahad Datu Member of Parliament (MP)\u00a0and Segama state assemblyman Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi has quit Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) to become an independent representative.
\nMohamaddin, 64, said the lack of development in both Lahad Datu and Segama had prompted him to leave Warisan.
\nHe said\u00a0he could focus on development by becoming an independent representative that is friendly to the Sabah state government but would remain a\u00a0“purely”\u00a0independent representative at the federal level.
\n“I feel that if I remain in the\u00a0opposition, Segama will not progress. There are four more years to go to the next state election and there is zero development in this area; not even a public toilet. It’s the same in Lahad Datu.
\n“Whenever I returned to the constituency, voters would ask about development. They wonder when\u00a0Segama can have a sub-district office as it has plantations and oil palm mills which contribute a lot of revenue to Lahad Datu,\u201d\u00a0he told a press conference here today.
\nFollowing\u00a0Mohamaddin’s resignation,\u00a0Warisan is now left with seven MPs and 19 state assemblymen in Sabah.
\nIn the 14th general election in 2018, Mohamaddin won the Lahad Datu seat, then known as Silam, with a\u00a06,401-vote majority in a four-cornered fight while in the 16th\u00a0Sabah state election last year he won Segama with a\u00a02,168-vote majority in an eight-cornered contest.
\nMohamaddin, a former Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister, said although he had decided to be a purely independent MP, he would support any federal government effort that can benefit the people.
\n“If my one vote as an independent MP can help determine a decision for the interests of the people and country, I would be glad to vote and support the federal government effort concerned.
\n“It is my\u00a0responsibility as\u00a0an elected representative to make a success of any government effort for the good of the country and people,\u201d he added.
\nMohamaddin said he was leaving Warisan of his own free will and was not “bought\u201d or offered any reward for doing so.
\nHe said he had done his part for Warisan and thanked party president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal for bringing him into the party.
\n“We won one parliamentary seat\u00a0(Lahad Datu) and four state seats (Segama, Tunku, Silam and\u00a0Kunak in Lahad Datu constituency) last year\u00a0(Sabah state election). This means Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie did not lose by bringing us into Warisan and I’m thankful for having contributed\u00a0many seats,” he said.
\nAsked if he had discussed\u00a0with\u00a0Mohd Shafie or sent a letter on his resignation, Mohamaddin said he had made all the necessary preparations.
\nAsked on the possibility of Warisan taking legal action against him, he said: “I have\u00a0prepared everything.\u00a0Just a matter of time;\u00a0let’s see how it goes.”
\nHe said he was not sure how his move would affect Warisan’s strength in Lahad Datu.
\n— BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KOTA KINABALU: Lahad Datu Member of Parliament (MP)\u00a0and Segama state assemblyman Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi has quit Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) to become an independent representative. Mohamaddin, 64, said the lack of development in both Lahad Datu and Segama had prompted him to leave Warisan. He said\u00a0he could focus on development by becoming an independent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7553,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7552\/revisions\/7553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}