KOTA KINABALU – The forthcoming general election (GE15) will be the first acid test for the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) alliance and the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition on their true political goals and capability to cooperate in Sabah.
According to GRS secretary-general Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun, whether the two pacts that are jointly ruling Sabah will go against each other in the GE15 is not the main issue.
Rather, it is more about how far they are willing to set aside their rivalry for the sake of Sabah.
Masidi said this in reference to questions facing the GRS-BN front in facing GE15, which may be called this year despite it being due by September next year.
Their cooperation has been placed in the air, as both camps are now locked in a debate over the number of seats they should contest in the election.
“The issue is not about Bersatu against Umno or Bersatu or Sabah Star or others,” said Masidi, who is a state cabinet minister and Bersatu leader.
“The main issue here is how far the political leaders can set aside their trivial differences in politics for the wellbeing of Sabah as a whole.
“I think the best is for Sabahans to unite. The two alliances should forget about their party affiliations and for once impress Kuala Lumpur that we (Sabahans) are united,” he said.
“Otherwise, we would forever be disintegrated. I don’t think this is what the new breed of Sabahans would like,” he remarked to reporters after launching an anti-corruption forum at the Sabah International Convention Centre today.
Masidi said this after a war of words broke out between Bersatu and Umno leaders over Bersatu’s plan to contest in six federal seats previously won by Umno in GE14.
Bersatu is a component of GRS while Umno is the lead party of BN.
The seats fell into Bersatu’s hands after their MPs decided to defect from Umno in 2019.
Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, who is Sabah Umno chief and also Sabah BN chairman, was also evasive on whether they would work with GRS in the upcoming election.
Towards this end, Masidi expressed his view that Sabah cannot afford at this point in time to have the ruling alliances fighting each other.
He said Sabah is not as developed as the peninsula, where the main ruling front is already seeing rivalries among key parties.
“I hope that we are as developed as the peninsula. They can afford to fight because they are well-developed.
“But are we in the same state as them here in Sabah? At my age, I still have the fighting spirit if I want to fight on.
“But I chose not to fight with each other, but to fight for Sabah, not for (the political goals) for any person,” he said.
Still, Masidi said whether the two alliances would form an electoral cooperation or not will depend on the outcome of the GRS-BN negotiation talks over seats, and that it did not matter if any of the parties declare how many seats they plan to contest at this point of time.
However, he pointed out that the current GRS stand as far as seat talks are concerned is the same one as expressed by its deputy chairman Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan that they are prepared for a “free-for-all” election if a consensus cannot be found in the seat-sharing talks. – The Vibes, August 17, 2022
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