Sabah Bersatu members quit party en-masse

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah chapter of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) led by Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor has quit the party en-masse.

Hajiji said in a statement on Saturday (Dec 10) that they will form a new local party together, but will now collectively still be part of the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition.

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“Today, we have made the unanimous decision to leave Bersatu.

We reached this decision having considered Malaysia’s current political landscape, particularly that of Sabah,” said the Chief Minister.

Hajiji said this unanimous decision is in the interests of Sabah, for the sake of unity and to fulfil the rakyat’s wish and aspiration for them to fight and struggle under the auspices of a local party.

He added that the state government led by Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-Barisan Nasional (GRS-BN) has also taken into account the Yang Di-pertuan Agong’s advice on a unity government focused on political stability and economic recovery.

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“With this decision, we will now use Gabungan Rakyat Sabah to voice Sabah’s interests and that of the Bornean states in Malaysia,” he said.

“We are confident that this decision will be good for political unity and stability in Sabah,” added Hajiji.

Moving forward, he said they will form a new local party but will collectively be members of GRS in the meantime.

Hajiji added that these members pledge their full support for the unity government and the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

“Our Sabah Maju Jaya vision is to ensure Sabah’s economic recovery and that unity among the people prevails,” said Hajiji.

He said it was their commitment together with Sarawak as the Borneo Bloc to voice out the people’s aspiration and to see that the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) will be fully implemented.

He said the Sabah Bersatu leadership's decision to leave the party is based on the premise that the status quo is no longer tenable.

“This is because at the federal level, Bersatu is in the opposition whilst GRS has pledged support to the unity government led by Anwar,” added Hajiji.

He said Sabah wants political stability and unity and wants to ensure momentum in Sabah’s growth and development so as to see that Sabah prospers in accordance with the mandate given in the last elections.

“We thank the President of Bersatu and Chairman of Perikatan Nasional, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for his leadership during our tenure as Bersatu members,” he said.