KOTA KINABALU: The ball is now in the court of the embattled Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, who has the blessing of the Prime Minister to continue as Chief Minister.
Hajiji, who for now has secured a 44-seat majority with Pakatan Harapan and five Barisan Nasional-Umno dissidents joining his camp, has to consider whether he wants to broaden his state government to include Barisan, Parti Warisan, and Parti KDM.
The Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) chairman has yet to comment on the formula to end the political standoff and is only expected to issue a statement later.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim did not publicly spell out the formula for a unity government in Sabah to include all opposing parties.
At the federal level, Barisan, Warisan and KDM are part of the national unity government.
However, Sabah Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin and Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said it was Anwar who made the proposal to Hajiji.
Both leaders said they fully supported the proposed Sabah unity government.
Observers said that with Hajiji having majority support, he had the prerogative to decide whether to include local rivals Barisan, Warisan and KDM in a unity state government.
They said the seven Sabah Pakatan Harapan assemblymen held the key to making or breaking the GRS majority in the assembly.
The observers said Hajiji has to consider Anwar’s proposal but will have to contend with the discontent within his ranks if he decides to include GRS’ local rivals into the state government.
Bung said he hoped Hajiji would accept with an “open heart” the unity proposal to help bring down the political temperature in the interest of Sabahans, both in the short and long terms.
Shafie said he backed the idea of a special committee to handle the formation of the unity government, as advised by the prime minister.
Anwar, who stopped over here on his way back from Jakarta late Monday night, spoke for about an hour with Bung, Shafie and Parti KDM president Datuk Peter Anthony at the Magellan Sutera Club.
Later, Anwar, who was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, also held discussions with Hajiji and GRS leaders at Seri Gaya, the official residence of the Chief Minister.
The GRS assemblymen and their allies have been “going in and out” of Seri Gaya since the political crisis began on Dec 6, when Bung decided to pull his support for the 27-month GRS-Barisan coalition.
After his meetings with Bung, Shafie and Anthony, Anwar told reporters that Sabah’s political situation was improving and that he and Ahmad Zahid would recommend the best formula for a solution, but pointed out that it would be up to the state leaders to decide for themselves.
After meeting with Hajiji and the leaders of GRS, Anwar revealed that he gave his blessings to Hajiji to continue as Chief Minister.
“We give space to the CM to discuss and find a good formula in the interest of Sabah,” Anwar said, thanking Hajiji and his team for listening to him.
Though Anwar’s visit seems to have had a cooling-off effect among the warring factions, it remains to be seen what transpires in the next day or two.
