KOTA KINABALU: The Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition wants to settle issues within itself before going deep into negotiations with partners like Pakatan Harapan, said Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.
The GRS secretary-general, who is in charge of seat negotiations with Pakatan, said they were in no hurry for these formal discussions yet.
“We have a very good relationship with Pakatan and we talk about things over coffee. What is important is political stability, whatever the party or coalition, Sabah and political stability must be put first,” he said.
Masidi said within GRS, all party presidents will discuss seat sharing over coffee and while he sensed that there were challenges, he is confident that these challenges can be overcome.
“Everyone wants to have a bigger number. When it comes to seats everyone wants big numbers but unfortunately there are only 73 seats,” he said.
“And I don't know if there is such a thing as ‘fair’ in politics but we need to arrange it accordingly - which party and candidate has the best chance to win,” he said.
Masidi said winning the seat should and must be the overriding rule of consideration, irrespective of which party in GRS this candidate is from.
He took Sarawak as an example, where there is strong political stability present, leading to continued and growing prosperity in that state.
“Look, Sarawak is in its sixth chief minister (premier now) while Sabah already has had 16, so this itself speaks volumes of the political turbulence that has kept us from optimised development,” he said.
On a question pertaining to concerns of a move for independent candidates to eye seats in the coming state elections, Masidi said being a democratic nation, everyone was welcome to contest.
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