KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Barisan Nasional is open to working with Parti Warisan and Parti KDM for the upcoming state election which could be called earlier than scheduled in 2025.
Its chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin (pic), who is also Lamag assemblyman, said, however, it was still too early for anyone to commit to anything.
“Let’s wait until the date for the 17th Sabah election is set,” said the Sabah Umno chief in a statement on Saturday (Nov 18).
“But as I have stated previously, Barisan/Umno will only partner up with parties that respect the agreement set earlier in order to protect Sabahans’ rights,” he added.
He explained that their previous experiences working with other parties have taught Sabah Umno to be more mature in politics, especially when considering potential partners.
“We will also look at friends who have the loyalty and honesty as political partners to fight for the people of Sabah.
“We do not want any internal crisis anymore that could undermine efforts to develop Sabah,” said Bung Moktar.
Another factor, he added, was that whoever they accepted as partners would ultimately ensure victory for Sabah Barisan candidates in the next state polls.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor had earlier this week not discounted the possibility of an early Sabah state election.
Hajiji, the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) chairman, urged members of Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat), of which he is the president, to be prepared for the polls.
He said the term of the GRS-Pakatan Harapan Plus state administration would end in October 2025.
Sabah Barisan worked with GRS in the last state election in September 2020 and they managed to topple the then incumbent government led by Warisan.
But in January this year, Bung Moktar announced that Sabah Barisan has pulled out from the GRS-Barisan state government, claiming GRS had reneged on its pledges to his party.
There was a possibility that Sabah Barisan, working with Warisan and KDM, could have unseated Hajiji’s government but the political coup failed after seven Pakatan assemblymen and several Sabah Umno dissidents threw their support to Hajiji, allowing him to remain as the chief minister.
Towards this end, Bung Moktar said Barisan/Umno had no problems with an early state election as they were already prepared for one anytime.
He said they have already coordinated with other Sabah Barisan component parties on the polls.
“The Barisan machinery is always ready. Not only that, we have formed our polling district centres and they are constantly being updated including on identifying members, voters and other matters,” he said.
