KOTA KINABALU: Speculation is rife that former chief minister Tan Sri Mohd Harris Salleh is planning to make a comeback in the 16th Sabah state election.
The 90-year-old, who was the Berjaya government chief minister from 1976 to 1984, is being courted to lead Usno. Usno is widely seen as a “shell” political party that was re-registered in 2013 and led by a little known politician, Ibrahim Linggam.
According to a local daily, Harris neither confirmed nor denied plans to return to active politics but admitted that there were requests from Usno members for him to lead.
“I cannot say for sure that I will take up the challenge. If I decide to heed the call and if Usno is able to form the state government with the help of friendly parties in the opposition, my priority would be to put Sabah right economically before handing over to others, ” Harris told the Daily Express.
When contacted yesterday, Ibrahim said they were waiting for confirmation from Harris and former Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to join Usno.
“We are also getting a lot interest from many political leaders, especially those who have been sidelined in Sabah Umno and other parties, ” he said.
The original Usno or United Sabah National Organisation was formed to represent the state’s Muslim bumiputra and was led by the late Tun Datu Mustapha Harun.
It was dissolved with the entry of Umno to Sabah in 1991 before certain groups started to revive it through its re-registration in 2013 as Usno Baru.
Harris was among the pioneers of the party that won the first state election in 1967 but he left Usno to form Berjaya with the late Tun Fuad Stephens and they toppled Usno in 1976.
Harris became Sabah chief minister hardly three months after Berjaya came into power following the tragic death of Fuad in an air crash in Kota Kinabalu on June 6,1976.
His Berjaya government lost to a fledgling PBS led by Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan in 1985.
Harris had made several attempts to make a comeback through leading Berjaya in 1990 and Bersekutu in 1999 but failed to make any impact. Both Berjaya and Bersekutu are now defunct.
Other former leaders trying to make a comeback are Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat, who is leading the Chinese-based Liberal Democratic Party into the polls, and former foreign minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman who has taken over Parti Cinta Sabah.
If the takeover of Usno by Harris or Pandikar Amin becomes a reality, it will join PCS and LDP as the third force in the Sept 26 state polls.
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