KOTA KINABALU – Efforts to make Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) an official coalition have hit a snag as Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the move would violate Barisan Nasional’s (BN) constitution and the Societies Act 1966.
The Umno chief said BN’s constitution and the Societies Act 1966 does not allow a party to join two political coalitions.
“Umno supports the GRS state government and also supports GRS getting registered, but we can only do this.
“Our challenge is that Umno is a core party in BN. So, we want to keep BN, as well as PBRS which wants BN to be maintained,” he said after launching PBRS’ triannual conference here today.
On the electoral cooperation between BN and Perikatan Nasional in the state, Zahid said the political situation in Sabah is different than on the peninsula – for example, in Melaka and Johor – given that BN is facing the state polls on its own.
“We will decide later after deliberating the issue.”
Earlier, Zahid had some stinging words for Bersatu, its ally in GRS, calling the party a “snake” that must be vanquished.
He did not mince his words, saying that the only way for the alliance to recapture Sabah is to “kill the snake” and that Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had betrayed the gentleman’s agreement during the Sabah election in September 2020.
“We cannot allow the same snake to bite us at the same spot again. We must kill the snake first, so it can no longer bite us. How do we kill the snake? Only BN can kill the snake.”
Also present at the convention were Sabah BN chief Bung Moktar Radin, and PBRS president Tan Sri Joseph Kurup and his deputy Datuk Arthur Kurup.
Of the 73 elected reps in the state assembly, Umno has 14, followed by Bersatu (11), PBS (seven) and Sabah Star (six).
Meanwhile, the opposition bloc’s Warisan has 23 seats while DAP holds six, PKR two and Upko one. – The Vibes, February 12, 2022
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