KOTA KINABALU: Putatan MP Datuk Shahelmey Yahya (pic), who is under a six-year suspension from Umno, seems to be keeping his options open about the state election which is speculated to take place before the state assembly term ends next year.
“I have not made any decision yet and I will decide at a suitable time,” he said in reference to Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin’s call for him to give up his seat if he intends to contest in the coming Sabah polls.
Shahelmey is also the Tanjung Keramat assemblyman.
“I take note of Bung’s comment as a possible scenario in the coming state election as per the anti-hop law.
“I understand the message. I accept it with an open heart,” he told The Star yesterday.
Bung told reporters on Saturday that Shahelmey must follow the rules if he wished to contest in the polls because his membership in Umno had been suspended for six years.
(Shahelmey was suspended in June last year when he backed the state government of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor after a failed coup by Sabah Barisan and Parti Warisan.)
“It is up to him. If he wants to contest in Tanjung Keramat then he has to vacate the Putatan seat,” Bung said.
Asked if this meant there would 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, adding that Umno has many potential candidates to choose from.
Bung also said that Sabah Umno would work with others in the coming elections but the party had yet to decide on 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.
The new political scenario, he said, would see political parties working together as no single party could win the elections on its own.
He also spoke about like-minded political parties to achieve their objectives.
