SANDAKAN – Sabah Umno will be running in all the federal seats that it had contested in the 2018 general election seeing it was a decision made during the general assembly in March, said its chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin.
“It has been decided that Umno will contest in the seats that it had contested (and won) in GE14. This included seats we lost due to ‘frogs’.
“We cannot just hand over our seats to any party for free, just like that. Maybe we can negotiate, but Umno has stressed that Barisan Nasional (BN) seats must be contested by Barisan Nasional.”
Bung said this at a press conference after attending the breaking of fast event with Kinabatangan Umno at Sabah Hotel here yesterday.
In 2018, Umno won seven parliamentary seats in Sabah, but five of its MPs left the party and joined Bersatu, including Kudat (Datuk Abd Rahim Bakri), Beaufort (Datuk Seri Azizah Mohd Dun), Sipitang (Yamani Hafez Musa), Beluran (Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee), and Libaran (Datuk Zakaria Mohd Edris).
One of the two remaining Umno seats is Kinabatangan with Bung as MP, and the other is Kimanis that saw a by-election in 2020 and won by Datuk Mohamad Alamin.
There could very well be a clash between Umno and Bersatu, which is an ally in state ruling coalition Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-BN.
Bung said the decision has also been agreed by the Sabah Umno grassroots.
Two weeks ago, he said Sabah Umno will avoid clashing seats with GRS partners if a snap general election is called.
“If clashes do happen, the position of the government will be fragile. So, we want to avoid this.
“I hope all of us would have the strength to resolve the seat distributions. I know right now there are already clashes with parties claiming the seats. But I will push forward Umno’s suggestion and see how it goes,” he said at the time.
In the last general election, BN contested all 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah – Sabah Umno (13), Parti Bersatu Sabah (5), Upko (now with Pakatan Harapan) (4), Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (1), and Liberal Democratic Party (1).
On Pejuang setting foot in Sabah, Bung said it is a democratic country, and it is the party’s business on what it wants to do.
“However, my view is that it has lost terribly in the peninsula, yet they want to come to Sabah. I see that the people of Sabah will not be interested.” – The Vibes, April 28, 2022
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