GBS takes shape to work with Pakatan

Interim chairman of Gabungan Bersatu Sabah (GBS) Pairin Kitingan (second from right)) shaking hands with Anifah Aman, as GBS vice chairman Hajiji Mohd Noor (third from right), Star president Jeffry Kitingan (right-most) and Masidi Manjun (left) look on.

KOTA KINABALU: Former state Barisan Nasional parties and Sabah Umno are reshaping themselves under a new Gabungan Bersatu Sabah coalition that will work with Pakatan Harapan.

The autonomous Sabah Umno, Parti Bersatu Sabah, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah and Parti Solidariti Tanah AirKu (Sabah STAR) as well as independents will form the GBS, which will be headed in the interim by retiring PBS president Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

GBS will have 10 MPs and 22 assemblymen.

Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, in maintaining that Sabah Umno was still strong and intact, said it was becoming part of GBS due to the “political reality in the state”.

He did not address the potential conflict with Umno headquarters, which opposes the Federal Pakatan government, except to say that “from my understanding, Sabah Umno is free to work with whoever we want”.

On the same issue, Sabah Umno secretary Datuk Masidi Manjun said: “We will cross the bridge when the time comes.”

Pairin, however, said it was normal for Sabah-based parties to seek a working relationship with the federal government.

With the former Sabah Barisan Nasional more or less non-existent, GBS looks set to oppose Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal’s Parti Warisan Sabah and its partners Upko, DAP and PKR in the new state government.

Shafie’s Warisan and Upko are not members of Pakatan but are working together with it, with Warisan MPs also part of the federal Cabinet.

Pairin, a former Sabah CM, said all party heads, including Hajiji, Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili (acting PBS president), Tan Sri Joseph Kurup (Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah president), Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan (Sabah STAR president) and Kimanis MP Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, who quit Umno last month, would later be co-chairmen of GBS.

Masidi will be the GBS secretary-general, with Pairin and former chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman to be made co-advisers when it is formally registered.

Anifah said he would remain an independent within the coalition, adding that there were already enough parties in Sabah.

“This is the first time we put our political differences aside and work together as one where everyone is equal,” the former foreign minister added.

Meanwhile, the High Court will hear arguments today on the legal suit brought by Musa challenging the legality of the May 12 appointment of Shafie as CM.

Musa is insisting that he is the rightful Sabah CM after being replaced by Shafie, who later gained a majority of seats in the 60-member state assembly, just two days after he was sworn in on May 10.