TROUBLE is brewing in GRS as Sabah Star now threatens to walk away from the coalition if it concedes excessive ground to PH in the Sabah election.
Sabah STAR president Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan delivered his clearest ultimatum to GRS on Wednesday, saying he will walk away from GRS if too much political concessions given to the Prime Minister's coalition.
This comes as a decisive meeting is scheduled tonight between the GRS presidents to endorse what appear to be the seat sharing pact with PH.
The deputy chief minister said GRS was increasingly seen as bowing to national pressure, a direction he argued went against the mood on the ground.
“If GRS goes solo, I go along. If they don’t, then I can’t go along because that is going against the sentiment of the majority of the people. They are the ones deciding, voting. How can I go against the people?” he said.
Jeffrey singled out PH’s push to contest more seats as proof of federal overreach and his statements come following months of talks that Sabah Star was leaving GRS and paved a solo path.
“They are asking for 23 from 7. When I asked him (GRS chairman Hajiji Noor) last week, he said like 20, 21, like that. The most I could have agreed is if they maintain, maintain, they have 7 seats,” he said.
PH currently holds seven of Sabah’s 73 state seats. If the national alliance has over 20 seats that would give the Prime Minister's Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim coalition a third of the assembly.
Jeffrey insists that this would weaken the local voices.
The Tambunan assemblyman suggested the pact with PH was already decided behind closed doors but stressed he would not be bound by it.
“The way I look at it, when I met the CM a few days ago, they already decided. So if they have decided, the presidential meeting will be just an endorsement now,” he said.
“Even if my YBs abandon me, I will go myself. They can put me in jail, they can hang me, but they cannot hang my spirit, they cannot stop. They cannot break your spirit. Even if I have to go alone, I’ll go alone,” he said.
On 16 September, Jeffrey launched his Justice for Sabah campaign at the Batu Sumpah in Keningau, tying it to Malaysia Day as a call to reclaim rights denied under the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.
The move is also seen could see GRS supporters to split into those who were okay with the electoral pact with PH and those who want GRS to go solo.
Jeffrey believed that if he walked, GRS could face a split, with Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) members also leaning towards a solo path.
“From the convention, it’s clear they want PBS-Star to go solo. And how can we ignore that? So if I go to the side of the members and the public, and the PBS members want solo also, if the leadership doesn’t go, then that is a disappointment. They will have to face the wrath of the members,” he said.
He recalled an 18 August meeting in Kuala Lumpur with Anwar Ibrahim and Zahid Hamidi, where PBS acting president Datuk Joachim Gunsalam signalled openness to PH.
On another development, Jeffrey also brushed off corruption allegations, including claims by businessman Dato’ Albert Tei that he pocketed RM1.78 million, describing them as political persecution.
“They accuse me of corruption, but this is just to make me yield. This is what they are doing — using corruption to silence me. But I will not give in.
“This is not new. They used Special Branch to try to monitor me. Then income tax, they used income tax. Eventually, when they could not find anything, they use ISA. Now corruption. But I am not worried,” he said.
He also accused Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of hypocrisy, saying it was Putrajaya who had taken billions from Sabah through its resources.
“In Anwar’s recent speech, what did he say? We steal billions of dollars? Are we stealing billions of dollars? Who is stealing billions of dollars? The federal government, they are the ones taking our oil resources. That means they rob us,” he said.
Jeffrey cited Article 112C of the Federal Constitution, which requires 40% of federal revenue collected in Sabah to be returned to the state — a provision he noted has never been fully honoured. - October 1, 2025
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