Wong Chin Huat said that if Shafie wants to pip opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for the post, he must first give the PKR president “a run for his money” by offering more than the unsubstantiated claims that Shafie is more acceptable to Umno or GPS.

“Shafie will give the opposition a better chance only if he can show more substance in policy competition, beyond the mantra ‘we are here to build a nation, not a race or religion’,” said Wong in a Facebook post.

“Shafie can start with a shadow Cabinet … something Anwar simply can’t do for reasons best known to himself.”

Noting that Warisan is the largest party in the 79-seat Sabah state assembly with 21 seats, Wong said Shafie should do what the largest opposition party in any Westminster system would – form a shadow Cabinet to compete with the government on policy and governance.

He added that Shafie should also champion decentralisation for all states, moving beyond the issue of restoring Sabah and Sarawak’s rights and status under the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 (MA63).

Shafie said yesterday that Warisan and Pakatan Harapan have agreed to uphold either him or Anwar as their choice for the prime minister’s post, although the decision would depend on who could get the additional support needed from outside the bloc of opposition parties.

During an interview on Agenda Awani last night, the former Sabah chief minister claimed that both Anwar and him share a baseline support of 105 MPs, with whoever able to gain the additional numbers to form a simple majority of 111 MPs to be named the opposition’s nominee.

“If Anwar gets more, I will concede; likewise, if I get more votes, he has to support me,” he said.