Former Putatan MP quits Sabah STAR after eight months

Former Putatan MP Datuk Marcus Mojigoh

KOTA KINABALU: Former three-term Putatan MP Datuk Marcus Mojigoh has decided to quit Sabah STAR, just eight months after joining the party led by Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.

Mojigoh, 70, denied talk that his leaving was due to a fallout with Kitingan, who is also Deputy Chief Minister, saying it was mainly because there were "limitations" on his freedom to speak up if he were to remain in the party.

"He (Kitingan) is a good friend of mine, we always laugh and joke together," he said, when contacted on Wednesday (Aug 24).

"(I left because) I want to have freedom of speech because I cannot criticise Sabah STAR or government leaders if I'm still in the party.

"I always speak up on what I think is right and good for the citizens of Malaysia and Sabah.

"So, I might as well stay free for the moment and I am free to say what I would like to say as a political activist as I am not too tied up with any political party," he added.

Mojigoh won the Putatan parliamentary seat for three straight terms from 2004 under a Barisan Nasional ticket, through his former party Upko, which is now a Pakatan Harapan component.

He left Upko in January 2020 when he was still the Putatan Upko division chief together with his committee members, citing they were unhappy with the party leadership for not listening to the grievances expressed by the grassroots.

After staying under the radar for a while, he then re-entered politics after joining Sabah STAR in December last year.

To a question on his next political move, Mojigoh said he already had plenty of local as well as peninsula-based parties knocking on his doors.

Pressed on who these parties were, he said: "Well, there are people from Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), PKR and even friends from Umno are asking me to join them.

"But I’m still thinking about it. It depends on the leader, if they trust me and give me a role to play then I will consider it.

"That’s all I want, which is something Sabahans will be happy about, not so much about this project or that project," he said.

Mojigoh said any political platform that could offer stability to the country should be supported.

"I think it’s very important for us to form a very strong government because at the moment, both the State and Federal governments are in pieces ... we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow," he said.

Sabah STAR is part of the five-party Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) ruling coalition alongside the Sabah chapter of PPBM, PBS, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) and United Sabah National Organisation (Usno).