KOTA KINABALU: Leaders of the eight-party Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) are set to meet today amid growing tensions over seat sharing for the coming state election.
According to senior GRS leaders, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, who is the coalition chairman, has scheduled a meeting with party presidents only.
“We have no idea what the meeting agenda is. Only party presidents have been called,” a source said.
Tensions have been brewing between certain component parties within the GRS over seat sharing for the Sabah state polls due anytime by November this year.
Though the ruling state coalition has yet to officially discuss the seat-sharing formula, internal discussions have suggested that a loose framework has emerged, with allocations of either a single seat or none being offered to some of the component parties.
Usno president Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, whose party is eyeing at least eight seats, sparked a public spat when he urged his GRS colleagues not to underestimate his party, which aims to contest native Muslim stronghold seats currently held by the opposition Parti Warisan in the east coast and northern Sabah.
Junior leaders from Hajiji’s Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) then called on the Usno president to leave the coalition if he was unhappy.
Other GRS leaders, including Sabah STAR president Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee, responded strongly, criticising the junior leaders of Gagasan Rakyat for their disrespectful behaviour and political immaturity.
Yong reminded them that no single party could become powerful like the Barisan Nasional-led Umno period, as its total power ended in the 2018 general election.
Kitingan called for respect for senior leaders and said that all parties, even without seats in the coalition, should be given due respect.
Yong, a former chief minister, is currently a nominated assemblyman, while Usno does not hold a seat in the 79-member assembly.
Sabah STAR, which has six seats, together with Usno and SAPP, are keen for GRS to go into the election without any electoral pact with Sabah Pakatan Harapan Plus.
However, Hajiji, whose Gagasan Rakyat holds 26 seats, including nominated assemblymen, has indicated that he wants to forge a pact with Pakatan, who is currently part of the state coalition.
Other GRS parties are Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), which holds seven seats, led by acting president Datuk Seri Dr Joachim Gunsalam, and Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah (Harapan Rakyat) with one seat, led by Tan Sri Liew Yun Fah.
Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) do not have any seats; they are led by Tan Sri Anifah Aman and Datuk Chin Su Phin respectively.
GRS has a total of 46 assemblymen, including more than a dozen who crossed over from Umno and Warisan to join Gagasan Rakyat and Harapan Rakyat just before the anti-hopping law was passed in Sabah in mid-2023.
Sabah Pakatan has seven seats, while Warisan has 14.
Sabah Barisan has 13 seats, including two suspended assemblymen, supporting Hajiji.
All parties are part of the Federal Government.
PAS, though in the opposition in the Federal Government, is backing GRS at the state level.
