KOTA KINABALU – Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor confirmed that the Sabah election will not be held together with the 15th general election (GE15), since the current Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-Barisan Nasional (GRS-BN) state government still has three years to serve its term.
He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob clearly excluded Sabah, Sarawak, Melaka, and Johor when advising states to dissolve their respective state assemblies to give way for state elections to be held at the same time as GE15.
“GRS-BN still has another three years, dissolution would not be necessary,” he said in a statement today.
Hajiji, who is also GRS chairman, said the ruling coalition is all geared up to face the parliamentary election and will convene a meeting as soon as possible to finalise seat allocations among its component parties.
He said all GRS component parties are united in facing the GE15 and have already reached several agreements, including using a common logo.
“GRS election machinery at the state and parliamentary levels is ready to be reactivated and all component parties have also made their respective preparations in the true GRS spirit,” he said.
GRS consists of Sabah Bersatu, Sabah Star, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), Parti Bersatu Sabah and the United Sabah National Organisation.
In another development, Hajiji has instructed all local authorities and disaster relief committees to go to the ground to handle and assess damages caused by floods that inundated several parts of Kota Kinabalu and its outskirts yesterday.
He has directed all district Disaster Management Committees to be on full alert to brace for inclement weather that will possibly cause more floods and cautioned the people to be extra careful.
Meanwhile, SAPP president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee expressed the party’s readiness to face GE15 and reiterated that the party’s “wishlist” of constituencies to contest are Kota Kinabalu, Sepanggar, Papar, Sandakan, Lahad Datu, and Tawau.
But he said SAPP will respect the views and position of other GRS parties in arriving at a final seat allocation by GRS.
“In the event that the constituencies are not being allocated to SAPP to contest, the same operation rooms will then be used to campaign for candidates from other GRS parties.
“All party branches in other constituencies will campaign for candidates from other GRS parties,” he said in a statement today.
Yong said SAPP is fully prepared for the general election because the re-energising of party branches and constituency liaison committees have already been completed in August in time for the party congress on September 3, 2022.
Prior to the Congress, more than 1000 youths aged 17 to 20 have been trained through the Sunrise programme, on the party struggle and campaign.
SAPP headquarters have instructed its constituency liaison committees to immediately activate the operation rooms at the six constituencies concerned.
Yong added that the dissolution of Parliament has removed the uncertainties that have been distracting the work of government and causing hesitation in the economic sector such as investment decisions by investors. – The Vibes, October 10, 2022
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