KOTA KINABALU: Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) will stand by Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili as candidate for the Kota Marudu parliamentary seat amid the departure of Bandau assemblyman Datuk Wetrom Bahanda from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.
GRS chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said Wetrom’s decision to leave Bersatu (a component of GRS) will not affect the party as it was still intact.
He also said GRS will continue to support Ongkili, the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president, to defend his Kota Marudu seat which Wetrom is said to be eyeing.
“We have yet to receive the resignation letter from Wetrom, we heard and seen from social media, and it looks like that (leaving Bersatu). But anyway I am confident that Bersatu will continue to exist and work for the people under GRS in Kota Marudu,” he said.
Wetrom, an assistant minister to the chief minister, voiced his intention to join opposition Parti Warisan and told supporters that he will contest the Kota Marudu seat in a viral video on Saturday (Oct 15).
Though Wetrom has yet to officially make known his decision to leave Sabah Bersatu, he was seen with Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal at a coffee shop along the busy Gaya Street fair here on Sunday (Oct 16) morning.
On this, Hajiji said that Warisan was fishing for its assemblymen ahead of the GE15.
“We should not make a miscalculation in politics. I understand that Parti Warisan is fishing especially during the election period. We know their intention ... ‘cakap tidak serupa bikin’ (do not walk the talk),” he said.
“They just talk. What have they done in two-and-a-half years as the government of Sabah?
“They have no direction other than politicking without any consideration for the interests of the multiracial people in the state,” he said.
According to Hajiji, the leadership of Ongkili was still very much needed by the people in Kota Marudu, and that he was a respected leader in his constituency and in the Federal Government.
He said Ongkili has done a lot for Kota Marudu and if there were people or the opposition claiming that there is no development in Kota Marudu, it is a blatant lie.
He cited the developments that Kota Marudu had seen and continues to enjoy since Ongkili became its representative.
Hajiji said Ongkili has also been fighting for Sabah’s rights from the very beginning and now as Minister in charge of Sabah and Sarawak affairs, he continued the struggle in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) special council.
He said GRS is a platform that unites parties representing the multiracial people in Sabah so that the Federal Government will listen to Sabah.
“I hope people will understand the basics of the GRS foundation. We must not repeat our past mistakes. We were easily split and unable to claim our rights because we were disunited,” he said.
“Enough is enough. We do not need to fight anymore,” Hajiji added.
Hajiji also said he had met with the Premier of Sarawak recently and they were in agreement that Sabah and Sarawak need one voice in Malaysia.
He said that Sabah had achieved much over the past two years and this was what they wanted.
“If we are united, we will get it,” said Hajiji, adding that several breakthroughs have been achieved in terms of Sabah getting more from PETRONAS over the state’s oil and gas resources.
He said an announcement will be made soon regarding Sabah’s equity in PETRONAS projects in the state.
