KOTA KINABALU: A semi-dormant Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah is set to become the most likely choice for former Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia members in the state to take over.
The party is being seen as the first choice for the former Sabah Bersatu members led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor who left the national party on Saturday (Dec 10) and parked themselves temporarily as "direct members" of the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition.
Sources said negotiations for the takeover had been on since before the mass exodus and they expect to finalise the takeover of the party within a week if all goes well.
The party whose current acronym is Gagasan, was the top choice for Hajiji and senior leaders because it could also use the acronym PGRS which could reflect the GRS coalition.
The party, which has changed hands several times since being registered in 2013, was now under the leadership of a local politician, Stephen Jimbangan.
When contacted, Jimbangan played down talks that his party is being approached by former Sabah Bersatu leaders.
However, he admitted that GRS had requested them to resubmit their application to join the state coalition.
“We first resubmitted in November last year but the soft copy was misplaced,” he said, adding they submitted their applications twice in total, and have yet to get a response.
Jimbangan also said that it could be their application to join GRS that is sparking these speculations of a takeover.
“Yes, we applied on Nov 8 but no talks of takeover yet. Perhaps our application, thus all the speculation,” he said.
He said there was a meeting with the former Bersatu leaders on Saturday (Dec 10) and that such meetings with friends were normal.
“Well, since they resigned, it is normal to explore all possibilities with friends,” said Jimbangan.
Former Sabah Bersatu leaders have remained mum on the taking over of Gagasan.
Former Sabah Bersatu deputy chairman Datuk Masidi Manjun had indicated that they were working on a new political vehicle and the move should be finalised soon.
However, former Bersatu members believe there was no rush because the 14 assemblymen and four MPs were now direct members of GRS, which is part of the GRS-Barisan Nasional coalition state government.
They explained that the state government was not affected by the exodus from Bersatu as Hajiji and Cabinet ministers continue to operate in their capacity at state and national levels of the government.
"We are not rushing, once things are ironed out and in place, then we will announce," said a senior leader from the ex-Bersatu group.
He said that Hajiji would be the president of the new party.
