KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, a key leader in the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) ruling coalition, remains coy over whether the alliance should forge an electoral pact with former rivals Sabah Pakatan Harapan in the state election due next year.
“Nothing has been finalised yet,” said Kitingan, who leads Sabah STAR, about GRS chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor’s proposal for a GRS-Sabah Pakatan electoral pact. He declined to elaborate.
Speaking to reporters after an event here yesterday, the Deputy Chief Minister I said that currently, GRS is working with Sabah Pakatan in the state administration led by Hajiji, the Chief Minister.
Hajiji, the president of the dominant Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah, has been pushing for GRS to work with Sabah Pakatan.
In Kota Belud on Sunday, Hajiji had expressed his confidence that such a pact was appropriate under the current political situation and would be a winning formula in the election.
Kitingan said there was nothing wrong with the proposed pact since Sabah Pakatan is currently working with GRS.
Sabah STAR, together with Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) led by Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee and Usno led by Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, has been pushing for the eight-party GRS to go it alone in the election.
Other GRS partners – Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah (Harapan Rakyat) and Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) – have not made public their stand on working with Sabah Pakatan.
This is since in the 2020 Sabah election, Sabah Pakatan had contested against GRS parties.
Kitingan, who has softened his stand on a GRS pact with Pakatan, proposed that the latter contest under the GRS banner. Sabah Pakatan leaders, however, have rejected the idea.
Sabah Pakatan with its six assemblymen came to the rescue of Hajiji’s government in January 2023 when Sabah Barisan led by Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin pulled its support.
The support from Sabah Pakatan together with a handful of renegade Sabah Umno and Warisan assemblymen helped Hajiji survive the attempted coup.
With the extra support from Pakatan, Warisan and renegade Umno lawmakers, GRS currently holds more than a two-thirds majority in the 79-member Sabah assembly.
