KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) will contest under the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition in the 17th state election due by September next year, says party president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee.
Although the party has aligned with Perikatan Nasional at the national level, Yong said SAPP was asking the Opposition pact to stay out of the state election.
“We are still a member of Perikatan. I have already said that Perikatan should not contest in Sabah. I know they are not happy.
“Their leaders Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee (Sabah Bersatu chairman) and others have voiced their anger on our stand,” he said after opening SAPP’s annual general meeting here yesterday.
Yong said the party had always stood against non-Sabah parties contesting in the state election.
“It is only our stand because there is no law to stop any parties from contesting.
“At the end of the day, it is the people who decide who they want,” he said.
SAPP is among the eight-party alliance of GRS, led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, who led a mass exodus out of Sabah Bersatu to form Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) after the 2022 general election.
GRS allied itself with the federal unity government headed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
SAPP, Sabah STAR (led by Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan) and Usno (headed by Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia) have been advocating for GRS and pushing for national parties to stay out of the state election.
However, Hajiji has often indicated that he was comfortable working with Pakatan Harapan.
He also said that he did not rule out the possibility of working with Sabah Barisan Nasional –their working relation broke in January last year after Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin pulled out Sabah Umno’s support for GRS.
