KOTA KINABALU: A patch-up between Sabah Umno, led by Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) under Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor is unlikely to happen, says state Umno election director Jeffrey Nor Mohamed.
He said Sabah Umno would remain cautious to any proposed political partnerships because GRS had reneged on previous written electoral pact agreements with the party.
“It’s a bitter lesson for us,” he said when commenting on Hajiji’s recent statement in which he did not rule out the possibility of GRS working with Sabah Umno again.
Hajiji, who is Sabah Chief Minister, has, among others, said a faction of Sabah Umno leaders remained serving in the GRS government in various capacities after Bung Moktar led the withdrawal of the party’s support during a failed attempt to topple the state government in January 2023.
Jeffrey said Umno leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister III Datuk Shahelmey Yahya, serving in Hajiji’s Cabinet did not represent the party and they had been suspended or sacked from the party.
“They do not reflect Umno’s presence in Hajiji’s Cabinet,” he said, adding that if there was no anti-party hopping law, most of those Umno-elected representatives would have joined GRS parties.
Jeffery also claimed that Umno representatives in the current Sabah Cabinet serving as ministers, assistant ministers or chairmen of government-linked companies were part of a political game being played to mislead the public.
Sabah Umno under Bung Moktar, he added, had been very clear that they would be cautious about political tie-ups, and any agreements must be on honouring them in the next state election due by September 2025.
Jeffrey, who is also Putatan Umno division chief, said GRS lacked transparency over its own stand, given that they had two assemblymen from the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) and PAS supporting them at the state level.
These two parties, however, were in opposition to the unity government at the federal level, he added.
“How sincere is the GRS government with such an arrangement?” he asked.
Jeffrey added that from the outset since the Umno-GRS collaboration following the September 2020 state election, GRS had not honoured various agreements, leading to Sabah Umno eventually pulling out of the state coalition government.
