KOTA KINABALU: Fledgling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) will be tested in keeping itself together as leaders discuss allocations for the 25 parliamentary seats in the Bornean state ahead of nominations on Nov 5.
The five-party coalition is likely to share about 13 of the 25 seats with the remaining to be taken by Sabah Barisan Nasional, their 15th General Election (GE15) partner in the state.
Chief Minister and GRS chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor is walking a tight rope as he tries to balance his coalition’s needs while at the same time accommodating Barisan’s seat demands.
As for GRS, Hajiji is under pressure to allocate more seats to local parties in the coalition which has portrayed itself as an umbrella for local parties fighting for state rights.
This is a dicey situation for Hajijij to manage the expectations of the five parties within GRS who will likely push for more representations from local parties.
The five parties in GRS are the Sabah chapter of the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Sabah Bersatu), Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Sabah STAR, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) and the United National Sabah Organisation (Usno).
It is understood that most of the local parties in GRS namely PBS, Sabah STAR and SAPP have staked a claim to contest in no less than five seats each in GE15.
Usno, led by former Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, is also expected to chip in with their seat demands, although realistically, it will be tough for them to get even one seat.
That leaves the question of how many seats Hajiji, who is also Sabah Bersatu chief, will allocate to his party and how many will go to the likes of PBS, Sabah STAR and SAPP?
“It would make sense for more seats to be allocated to Sabah parties if GRS would like to present itself as a local party,” said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.
“But of course Hajiji would also have to placate the demands for seats from within his own Bersatu. How to balance between the two would test his leadership vigour,” he added.
One unhappy customer with the seat negotiations within GRS so far would seem to be Bandau assemblyman Datuk Wetrom Bahanda who is said to be eyeing the Kota Marudu parliamentary seat, which is traditionally allocated PBS.
Wetrom has since fallen out with GRS over the snub, and has reportedly been willing to join Parti Warisan or the Datuk Peter Anthony-led Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) in order for him to contest the Kota Marudu seat in GE15.
Following this, there was talk that other GRS leaders would follow suit if they were not considered as candidates although the names speculated have denied the claim.
Oh said he would not be surprised if there were more unnerved in GRS’ direction if they do not get their way in GE15.
“Different Adun (assemblymen) see different political prospects at different times, and some may not be happy with their existing parties.
“So, it has become a norm for Sabah ADUNs to switch sides as they see fit for their political interests,” he said.
But in the end, he believed that although local party leaders will “make a lot of noises” if their demands were not met, they will in the end concede and come back to singing the same tune.
“Well, what could they do besides biting the bullet?,” he said.
GRS was initially created as a loose coalition that included Sabah Barisan to topple the Parti Warisan-led state government in the 2020 snap state election.
After winning the Sabah election, GRS was later registered as an official party in March this year, although Sabah Barisan refused to become part of the formal pact.
That led to the state administration to be known as the GRS-Barisan state government.
GRS was then officially launched last May, with the aim of providing a platform to unite local parties in order to boost the value and meaning of their struggles in the local and national political arena.
