Hajiji: ‘All district disaster management committees are on full alert’
KOTA KINABALU: Rain or shine, Sabah parties are ready for the 15th General Election (GE15) amid the political storm over holding snap polls during the monsoon.
Leaders from the ruling state coalitions of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Sabah Barisan Nasional said they had no issue with holding the elections now.
They also said the polls would resolve the political uncertainty in the country.
“The King had consented to the dissolution of Parliament, so the polemics on whether it was a good time to hold an election are irrelevant.
“Going by the political turbulence and instability of the last two years, no one can predict the future of politics in this country.
“So we might as well try to put an end to all these political uncertainties by having elections now with the hope that a stable new government will emerge from GE15,” GRS secretary-general Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said.
Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, who is also GRS chairman, said all district disaster management committees were on full alert and were ready should there be floods.
Bung: ‘Our candidate announcement will be done together’
Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin stated that Barisan and GRS had reached an agreement on a seat-sharing formula, which would be announced in due course.
The Sabah Barisan chairman also confirmed that he met with Hajiji on Sunday to finalise the seat-sharing plan.
“Our candidate announcement will be done together.
“Our machinery will also work together on the ground before and during the election,” he said.
Bung added that their focus would be on winning as many of the 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah as possible.
Doubts about the two coalitions working together during GE15 ended after Bung and Hajiji concluded talks on seat-sharing.
GRS comprises Bersatu, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Sabah STAR, United Sabah National Organisation (Usno) and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP).
Sabah Barisan consists of Umno, MCA, MIC and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS).
The GRS-Barisan coalition successfully toppled the Parti Warisan-Pakatan Harapan-Upko state government during the Sabah snap election two years ago.
Opposition Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said the party was ready and respected the Prime Minister’s right under the Constitution to call for the elections.
“There is nothing we can do about it. We respect the decision,” he said.
