KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Pakatan Harapan is holding back a meeting to review its pact with Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
It is believed that officials of the four-party coalition put the meeting on hold for now to observe further political developments in the state, with the new Yang di-Pertua Negeri expected to be known today.
Sabah Pakatan chairman Datuk Ewon Benedick confirmed that the meeting scheduled for yesterday had been rescheduled.
“We have rescheduled the meeting. I am flying to Kuala Lumpur to attend a function at Istana Negara,” he said in apparent reference to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong presenting the appointment letter to the new Sabah governor today.
Ewon, who is the Parti Upko president, said no new date had been set for the meeting.
Sabah DAP chairman Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe said he believed Sabah PKR also needed more time to look into the matter.
The fourth partner in the state is Amanah.
The DAP central executive committee had on Dec 10 granted full mandate to Sabah DAP to reconsider its role in the state administration and decide on the next course of action following the mining corruption scandal.
Following this, Phoong said the state DAP would discuss with the other Sabah Pakatan component parties before making any decision.
Hajiji, who is the Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) president, met with Sabah Pakatan leaders on Friday on the political pact with GRS.
At a Christmas gathering of Gagasan Rakyat the next day, Hajiji told party members that GRS was keen to work with Sabah Pakatan and that he had personally relayed this to Prime Minister and Pakatan chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Saying he prioritised unity, the chief minister said it was important for all parties, big or small, to work together to move forward as one.
Relationships between GRS and Sabah Barisan Nasional, under the leadership of Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, have remained tense. Sabah Barisan Nasional has made it clear that it is not eager to collaborate with the state coalition, and some of its leaders have asked national parties not to participate in the next state election.
Hajiji had told Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi that GRS was confident of winning the state elections due next year.
Hajiji and Bung fell out in January last year when Bung pulled Sabah Barisan out of the state coalition government.
Hajiji survived the coup attempt when Sabah Pakatan assemblymen, with several Sabah Barisan assemblymen, defected to keep Hajiji’s government intact.
Pakatan and Barisan are keen to work as a team in line with the political structure of the federal unity government, though some parties within GRS are asking the national parties to leave Sabah to local parties in line with the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
Other local opposition parties, Parti Warisan and Parti KDM, who are members of the national unity government, have stayed out of negotiations for a pact with any of the existing coalitions in Sabah.
