Four Sabah parties assure Hajiji, GRS their support

KOTA KINABALU – Four party presidents in the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition have given their assurance that their support stays with GRS chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor.  

In a joint statement today, party presidents Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili (Parti Bersatu Sabah), Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan (Sabah Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku), Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee (Sabah Progressive Party), and Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia (United Sabah National Organisation) said Sabah Barisan Nasional’s (BN) withdrawal from its pact with GRS will not affect Hajiji’s position as the chief minister.  

They said the validity of the chief minister is determined through the majority support of the assemblymen based on the state constitution.  

“Hajiji remains as the Sabah chief minister, and any media statement from other political parties does not have a legal impact.  

“GRS is a political party with the most number of assemblymen in the Sabah assembly,” they said.  

PBS has seven assemblymen; Sabah STAR, six; and SAPP, one, while Usno has no representative in the legislative assembly.

“GRS also appreciates the majority support from other assemblymen to Hajiji as the chief minister, including collective support from Pakatan Harapan (PH) assemblymen, BN assemblymen, Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah (PHRS), and nominated assemblymen,” the four leaders added.  

PH has seven reps, and PHRS has one. The mention of BN assemblymen is in reference to five of them who Sabah BN chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin said have disagreed with the move to pull support from GRS.

The four presidents also slammed Bung Moktar for withdrawing support from Hajiji as the chief minister, saying that he had jeopardised Sabah’s political stability.  

They said Bung Moktar’s announcement last night proved that Sabah BN had a plot with Warisan.

“Any move to form a backdoor government and not through the process of election is a betrayal of the people’s mandate and must be rejected. It is our responsibility to respect the mandate of the people in the last state election.  

“Our strong commitment (in supporting Hajiji) is based on the awareness that the people and the state’s interests must be prioritised over a party and individual’s narrow interests,” they added.  

GRS has 29 reps, which include 15 former Bersatu assemblymen. As things stand, the coalition appears to have the support of the five from Sabah BN who reportedly disagree with Bung Moktar, and PH’s seven assemblymen.

The parties that have openly stated their rejection of GRS and Hajiji are the faction in Sabah BN under Bung Moktar and Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat.

The Sabah assembly has 79 seats and the simple majority needed to form a government is 40. – The Vibes, January 7, 2023