Lone Sabah PAS rep maintains support for GRS, Hajiji

Photo: Bernama

KOTA KINABALU: The lone PAS assemblyman in Sabah is throwing his support behind Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor amid uncertainty if Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) could keep hold of the state government.

Nominated assemblyman, Dr Aliakbar Gulasan (pic) said his stand to support the GRS government with Hajiji as the Chief Minister, still remains.

"We (PAS) are still in support of GRS and remain friendly with GRS. We support Hajiji," he said when contacted, Friday (Jan 6).

On Thursday (Jan 5), speculations were rife that Barisan was pulling out their support for Hajiji.

However, Sabah Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin has not made any statement on the matter.

Aliakbar was seen in a photo posted by Hajiji on Facebook on Thursday, along with most of the GRS and Sabah Pakatan assemblymen.

He said the Sabah political dynamics were different from peninsula Malaysia, where PAS, being part of the Perikatan Nasional coalition, was in the opposition at the federal level.

"The working relation here is different, we support Hajiji," he reiterated.

Aliakbar said the main focus was to build up Sabah, develop the state and care for the wellbeing of the people.

Asked what the meeting with Hajiji and other GRS and Sabah Pakatan Harapan leaders was about, he said "just the usual political stuff".

However, he said the objective behind the meeting should be easily guessed at this point.

PAS was with the then Sabah Perikatan coalition that toppled the Warisan-led state government.

PAS became GRS-friendly after the 2020 Sabah state election.

However, it was not invited to join GRS after the coalition was formed in September that year.

The current standing of the 79-member Sabah state Assembly comprises 29 GRS members - 15 ex-Bersatu, seven from Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), six from Sabah STAR and one, SAPP -, Barisan Nasional with 17 assemblymen, Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Rakyat three, PAS one, Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah (1), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (1) and an independent.

Parti Warisan has 19 assemblymen while Pakatan Harapan has seven which comprises four from DAP, two from PKR and one from Upko.