KOTA KINABALU: The eight-party Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition must immediately resolve uncertainties with its political alignment with Pakatan Harapan, says Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee.
"With less than 10 months to the upcoming state elections, we urge the GRS supreme council to urgently resolve any uncertainties surrounding the GRS - PH alignment," said the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president whose party is part of the coalition.
He said it was important for the supreme council to clarify the matter before the new year to allow Sabahans to make "informed decisions" about their political future.
Yong's statement comes as the four-party Sabah Pakatan is expected to meet in the next few days to discuss its position with GRS following the developing controversy over the alleged mining bribery that has implicated eight GRS assemblymen.
"As a reminder, regardless of what Sabah DAP or Pakatan leaders may say, the ultimate decision-making power remains with their headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
"As we can already see, Pakatan and Barisan Nasional have solidified their alliance, irrespective of GRS’s one-way goodwill towards Pakatan," said Yong referring to GRS' close relations with Sabah Pakatan and broken relations with Sabah Barisan.
SAPP together with Sabah STAR led by Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and Usno under Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia have been pushing for the local GRS coalition to go it alone in the coming state election due by September 2025.
GRS chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, who is Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) chairman had previously said that he was keen to work with Sabah Pakatan in the coming election.
However, recent developments with the mining issues are seeing Sabah Pakatan reconsidering its position with GRS.
Yong said that GRS leaders should not worry if DAP may withdraw from the GRS-led government because there was no possibility of the Sabah Chapter of DAP leaving the GRS-led government on grounds of corruption.
He said the so-called “review” of DAP’s position in the Sabah government was more likely to be merely a negotiation tactic to squeeze the Sabah Chief Minister and GRS leaders to concede more posts, more privileges and more benefits, including promoting DAP leaders in the Sabah Cabinet.
"If anti-corruption were really the principle of DAP to choose its government partners, the DAP would not have joined hands with BN-Umno in November 2022," he said.
He said people remember how DAP, over more than 50 years, severely condemned Umno as a "corrupted party".
"But what people have witnessed in the last two years is that: DAP is comfortable partnering Umno at all levels of government and even campaigning for Umno at state elections and by-elections," he said.
GRS forged a coalition with Sabah Pakatan in Jan 2023 after Sabah Barisan led by Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin withdrew its support for Hajiji who survived politically with the support of Pakatan assemblymen and defectors from Umno.
