GABUNGAN Rakyat Sabah (GRS) chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor has played down talk of internal friction within the ruling alliance, describing recent signs of overlapping seat claims with Pakatan Harapan (PH) as nothing more than “minor collisions”.
Hajiji said cooperation between GRS and PH remained on track despite what he called the usual “political bumps” that come before an election.
“We are still working together with Pakatan Harapan. Belanggar sikit-sikit itu boleh lah — a little collision here and there is all right. It’s nothing serious,” he said in Kota Kinabalu.
He confirmed that GRS had finalised its entire list of candidates and expected to make the announcement about three or four days before nomination day, which falls on November 15.
“I think I will make the announcement maybe around the 11th or 12th of this month. Everything is finished.
“All one-hundred per cent done. It’s just the announcement left,” he said.
While Hajiji projected calm, his coalition partners in PH have been signalling a more assertive stance.
UPKO, led by Datuk Ewon Benedick, has said it will contest “more than two seats” and use its own Kinabalu logo instead of PH.
PKR also shown interest in Darau, Karamunting, and Gum Gum, while DAP has been strengthening its presence in several west-coast constituencies it considers non-negotiable.
Hajiji dismissed suggestions that the overlapping claims reflected disunity.
“We are still cooperating. These are small matters. It’s normal,” he said.
Federal–state friction
Reporters also asked Hajiji to respond to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s statement in Parliament, in which Anwar rejected accusations that the federal government had been “siphoning Sabah’s natural resources” or draining its wealth.
Anwar said the opposite was true — that Putrajaya had in fact spent more on Sabah than it collected in revenue.
Asked for his reaction, Hajiji simply laughed and waved the question aside.
“Siphoning? What do you mean siphoning? No comment. Thank you, thank you,” he said.
Sabah will hold its general election on November 29 with nomination day set on November 15. - Nov 4, 2025
