Six Sabah reps who jumped from Umno get Bersatu cards

PUTRAJAYA: Six Sabah elected reps who left Umno have officially joined Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

Four of them are MPs - Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee (Beluran), Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri (Kudat), Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun (Beaufort) and Datuk Zakaria Mohd Edris (Libaran) – while the other two are assemblymen - Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor (Sulaman) and Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun (Karanaan).

Senators Datuk John Ambrose and Datuk Abdul Ghani Yassin, both formerly of Umno, have also joined Bersatu.

All of them received their membership cards from Bersatu chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad after a meeting at the Perdana Leadership Foundation on Friday (March 15).

This group was among those who left Umno on Dec 12, 2018, in an exodus led by Hajiji.

Other Sabah Umno asssemblymen who have left the party are Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan (Apas), Datuk Matbali Musbah (Lumadan), Datuk Isnin Aliasnih (Klias), Datuk Mohd Arifin Mohd Arif (Membakut), Datuk Ghulam Haidar Khan Bahadar (Kawang) and Datuk Japlin Akin (Usukan).

They are expected to be announced as Bersatu members at the launch of the party's Sabah chapter on April 6 in Kota Kinabalu.

With the addition of the four MPs, Bersatu now has 26 elected reps in the Dewan Rakyat - an additional 13 seats from the 13 they won in the 14th General Election.

This brings the current total of Pakatan Harapan MPs to 129.

In the Sabah state assembly, Umno is left with only one rep - former Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman - following the exodus.