KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan wants Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili to produce evidence to back up claim that the party is “friendly” to illegal immigrants or be sued by the party.

Reiterating Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal’s warning about legal action against Ongkili, its vice president Terrence Siambun (pic) said the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president’s remark had caused much confusion to Sabahans, particularly among the non-Muslim Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) community.

He said the speech made by Ongkili during a Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) event in Tenom last week was widely reported in the media and circulated on social media.

According to Siambun, Ongkili’s allegation that PBS was not ready to work with Warisan because the party was friendly to illegals and had many undocumented migrants among its grassroots was the second false accusation he had made about Warisan.

Ongkili had also recently associated Warisan with the drastic increase of voters in Sabah.

“This is despite Ongkili himself stating during the PBS congress last June that a Barisan Nasional component party (was responsible) for issuing identity cards to illegals in Sabah,” he said.

Shafie had previously said he would look into legal avenues to stop Ongkili and other detractors from using the undocumented immigrant issue as political ammunition against Warisan.

In response, Ongkili said the onus was on Warisan instead.

“A denial alone is not sufficient. They must prove to us that they do not have the backing of illegal immigrants,” Ongkili said in a statement.