KOTA KINABALU: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia crumbled in Sabah when Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor (pic) led a massive exodus out to form a new party.
For now, Sabah Bersatu is mulling taking over a local-based shell party.
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Hajiji, who headed the crippling mass exodus of Sabah Umno members 45 months ago to bring Bersatu to Sabah in April 2019, has done it again when he announced yesterday that they were ditching Bersatu.
This time, the 67-year-old is set to lead a local-based party that will be part of the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and shape it as a totally state-based coalition with no ties to a national party.
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The move has inflicted a severe blow to Bersatu and the Opposition Perikatan Nasional’s influence in Sabah while Hajiji is seen as strengthening his hold on the state government while keeping in line with the new Federal Government.
Going with Hajiji are 14 assemblymen and four MPs who have declared their support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government.
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However, Bersatu vice-president Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee is unlikely to follow Hajiji and the others as he would be subjected to the anti-hopping law.
He won the Beluran parliamentary seat on a Perikatan ticket.
Sources said most of the 25 Bersatu division chiefs and branches would join the “new” political entity that would be named soon.
It is learned that Hajiji, who is Sabah Bersatu chairman, and his deputy Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun had been in discussion with Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan or PGRS) led by Steven Jimbangan, a local politician.
The party, seen to be politically non-active after the 2020 Sabah snap election, is being eyed for a takeover.
However, Masidi, who is the GRS secretary-general, declined to comment on such a possibility and only responded that the wait would not be long.
“(It will be) very very fast,” he replied when asked how soon they would have a party ready.
In his statement earlier yesterday, Hajiji said they were now collectively remain part of the GRS coalition.
“Today, we have made a unanimous decision to leave Bersatu,” he said.
“We reached this decision after having considered Malaysia’s current political landscape, particularly that of Sabah,” added the Chief Minister.
He said the state government, administered by GRS-Barisan Nasional, took into account the King’s advice on political stability and economic recovery through the formation of the federal unity government.
He added that Sabah Bersatu leadership’s decision to exit the party was based on the premise that the situation was no longer tenable for it to be under Perikatan (which comprises Bersatu, PAS, Gerakan and Sabah Progressive Party or SAPP).
“This is because at the federal level, Bersatu is in the Opposition while GRS has pledged its support for the unity government,” Hajiji noted.
He said the unanimous decision was in the interest of Sabah and for the sake of unity besides fulfilling the rakyat’s wish and aspiration to fight under the auspices of a local party.
“We will now use GRS to voice Sabah’s interests and those of the Bornean states in Malaysia,” Hajiji said, adding that they would form a new local party but in the meantime would collectively be direct members of GRS.
He said GRS was committed to working with Sarawak as a Borneo Bloc to voice out the people’s aspirations and see that the Malaysia Agreement 1963 or MA63 be fully implemented.
“We thank the president of Bersatu and chairman of Perikatan, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, for his leadership during our tenure as Bersatu members,” he said.
The four GRS MPs from Bersatu are Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan (Batu Sapi), Datuk Matbali Musah (Sipitang), Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali (Papar) and Datuk Jonathan Yassin (Ranau).
The 14 assemblymen are Hajiji (Sulaman), Masidi (Karanaan), Datuk Isnin Aliasnih (Klias), Datuk Fairuz Renddan (Pintasan), Datuk Ghulam Haidar Khan Bahadar (Kawang), Datuk Mohd Arifin Mohd Arif (Membakut), Datuk Rubin Balang (Kemabong), Samad Jambri (Labuk), Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan (Apas), Datuk Hassan A Gani Pg Amir (Sebatik), Datuk Ruddy Awah (Pitas), Abdul Ghani Mohamed Yassin (Nabawan) and nominated assemblymen Datuk Amisah Yassin and Jaafari Walliam.
The Sabah state assembly has yet to adopt the anti-hopping law and as such its assemblymen could move out of the party while Bersatu-linked MPs, who contested on a GRS ticket, would be subjected to the anti-hopping law.
Sabah Bersatu assemblymen had won their seats on a Perikatan ticket in the September 2020 snap state election. Perikatan and Barisan then forged a loose coalition to topple Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal’s Warisan Plus-led state government (which included Pakatan Harapan).
GRS was registered as a coalition earlier this year with Bersatu, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Sabah STAR, SAPP and Usno becoming its components.
