GE15: 'He has declared war on us', Bung slams Hajiji for reneging on GRS-Barisan deal

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Barisan Nasional slammed Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor for breaking their pre-election agreement to support Barisan after the general election.

"We had an agreement that GRS will support Barisan, Hajiji has broken the deal by giving support to Perikatan Nasional.

"He has declared war on us," Sabah Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin said Monday (Nov 21).

Hajiji had earlier stated that six MPs from GRS would support Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Malaysia's 10th Prime Minister.

"Hajiji did not call me or discuss with me about GRS' support for Perikatan," he said.

He explained that it was GRS-Barisan pre-election agreement to share Sabah's 25 Parliament seats with GRS contesting 13 and Sabah Barisan contesting 12.

Barisan won seven seats while GRS won six seats.

However, Bung said it was now clear that GRS had also supported Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM)'s Datuk Wetrom Bahanda in Kota Marudu and two independents - Verdon Bahanda (Kudat) and Riduan Rubin (Tenom).

The three non-GRS MPs were seen with KDM president Datuk Peter Anthony and Hajiji meeting with Muhyiddin on Sunday (Nov 20) night, Bung said, referring to viral pictures spread online.

He said it was clear that Hajiji and GRS had acted against the spirit of cooperation between GRS and Barisan who form the state government since they successfully toppled the Warisan Plus state government in the September 2020 state election.

Asked if Sabah Barisan would cooperate with GRS at the state level, Bung responded that it would have repercussions on their relationship with GRS in the state government.

"Not now, we will look into it later," he said without dismissing the possibility of withdrawing support for the state government.

Currently, GRS has 30 assemblymen in the 79-member Sabah Assembly while Sabah Barisan holds 17 assemblymen giving the two coalitions a majority of 47 seats.

The coalition government currently has six "friendly" assemblymen from PAS, Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM), Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah and two independents.

The Opposition - Warisan holds 19 assemblymen while Sabah Pakatan Harapan has seven assemblymen in the current assembly.

Barisan with 30 MPs had yet to declare its support for either Perikatan or Pakatan Harapan to form the next Federal Government.