KOTA KINABALU: Junior divisional leaders from Gagasan Rakyat in Kiulu and Bingkor have been warned against challenging United Sabah National Organisation, a fellow Gabungan Rakyat Sabah component party, to leave the coalition.
The warning included a reminder to consider the political realities and history of Sabah before making provocative statements.
Gagasan is not as dominant as Umno was before its fall from power in 2018, nor is the GRS coalition as strong as the Barisan Nasional coalition was at the time.
"Let’s be honest with ourselves. Some junior leaders talk and behave as though they are as powerful as Umno at its peak, which is simply not the case," said Sabah Progressive Party president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee, who also serves as GRS deputy chairman.
Yong, a former Chief Minister of Sabah, urged Gagasan to educate its young leaders about Sabah’s political past to avoid repeating costly mistakes.
Citing two key historical incidents, Yong said parties that dismissed or sidelined their coalition partners had paid the political price.
The first was in 2006 when Umno openly challenged United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation to exit Barisan after the Sabah-based party opposed the relocation of non-local squatters to Kampung Maang in Penampang, a move the party believed would disrupt local demographics.
Umno’s actions were seen as a public belittling of Upko.
When Upko eventually left Barisan in 2018, the coalition quickly collapsed.
"Timing is everything," Yong said, adding that Upko is now celebrating its 31st anniversary.
The second example was the expulsion of Usno from Barisan in 1984, one day before Labuan’s federalisation.
Yong recalled that the decision, made during a Barisan meeting in Labuan, led to a massive electoral loss for Barisan-Berjaya in the 1985 state polls, where the party's seats dropped from 44 to just six.
Yong advised Gagasan’s junior leaders to take a cue from GRS chairman and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, whom he described as an inclusive and pragmatic leader.
He also credited Gagasan’s deputy president Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun, who serves as Sabah’s Finance Minister, for making difficult but necessary decisions to improve state revenue, particularly from the oil and gas sector.
Nonetheless, he pointed out that the delivery of government projects still requires more urgency and efficiency to truly benefit the people.
"Let’s start by reviewing the Sabah government’s bureaucracy and delivery system. And let’s practise our ‘Rumah Kita, Kita Jaga’ (Our Home, We Protect) motto sincerely," Yong stressed.
