KOTA KINABALU: Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan) will be the new political vehicle for former members of Sabah Bersatu who left the national party en masse on Dec 8.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, who led the exodus from Bersatu, said on Sunday (Jan 29) that the takeover of Gagasan, an existing party, would be formalised soon.
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Hajiji, who had earlier launched the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) student wing here, said Gagasan had been admitted into the state's ruling coalition on Dec 9.
It was reported on Dec 11 that the semi-dormant party was seen as the leading candidate for a new "home" for those who had left Sabah Bersatu.
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Gagasan was registered in August 2013 as a multiracial political party.
It did not become active until 2016 owing to reported manpower and funding issues. In 2019, its then president Dr Ationg Tituh told the media that Gagasan would not work with other parties to achieve its goal of fighting for the rights of Sabahans.
It contested without success in the 2020 snap state election. It was later involved in talk of forming a united local-based opposition front led by former foreign minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, but later pulled out of the planned merger.
