KOTA KINABALU – Sabah’s Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) is parting ways with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, with an official announcement on the matter expected to be made later this week.
Various news outlets quoted STAR president Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan as saying that STAR was no longer aligned with PN after the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) alliance declared its support for the government under Pakatan Harapan.
“Yes (we’re exiting PN). Just wait for the announcement,” Jeffrey told reporters at a convocation ceremony by the Sabah Agricultural Institute in Timbang Menggaris, here this evening, as quoted by Astro Awani.
Meanwhile, a source told The Vibes that Jeffrey will make an announcement on Wednesday, after hinting twice that the party would be leaving the opposition coalition recently.
“We had a political bureau meeting recently, and the matter of leaving PN has been decided in that meeting.
“Jeffrey has instructed the party secretary-general to write a letter to PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin over the party decision,” the source told The Vibes, adding that the meeting would be held at 2pm at the party headquarters near here.
However, he could not confirm whether Muhyiddin had received the party’s letter.
The source further noted that STAR had intended to leave PN for some time after GRS was officially registered in March this year.
STAR is a component of GRS, alongside Sabah Bersatu, Usno, and PBS.
Jeffrey – the sole STAR politician who won a parliamentary seat in Keningau – had hinted twice on the departure from PN, the first during the tabling of the state budget on November 25, and again on December 2 during the launching of the Heart of Borneo Symposium.
“We (Sabah Star and PN) are now on different paths. If you move this way and I move that way, what does it mean?” – The Vibes, December 5, 2022
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