KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Umno wants Putatan MP Datuk Shahelmey Yahya to give up his parliamentary seat if he plans to contest in the coming state election.
Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin said a rule is a rule, and Shahelmey must follow the rules if he wants to contest as his membership in Umno has been suspended for six years.
“It is up to him. If he wants to contest Tanjung Keramat then he has to vacate the Putatan seat,” said the Kinabatangan MP and Lamag assemblyman.
Shahelmey’s membership was suspended after he pledged support for Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor and went against his party, which withdrew its support for Hajiji during the January 2023 political crisis.
Asked if this means there will be a by-election this year, Bung said it could be held together with the state election but it was up to the Election Commission to decide.
He said Umno was ready to field its candidates and that Umno had many potential candidates to choose from and the seats they were looking at in the coming elections would be the winnable ones.
He said this during the party’s Ramadan walkabout programme in Putatan recently.
During the event, Bung also told reporters that Sabah Umno will work with partner(s) for the coming elections but they have yet to decide who to work with.
Asked if they would work with Parti Warisan and if he had met with Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal over this matter, he said meetings with leaders were normal, as they saw each other often in Parliament and other places as well.
He said the new political scenario is where parties work together as there is not a single party that could win going into the elections on its own.
Bung said the political scenario has changed over the past 15 to 20 years, and they must adapt and find the best way to get closer to the grassroots and work with like-minded political parties to achieve their objectives.
He also urged the state government to list out its achievements so far since taking over the helm of governance in 2020.
