KEPALA BATAS: Seat allocations in the upcoming Sabah elections must be properly ironed out if Barisan Nasional, which is an opposition party in the state, is to work with ruling coalition Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS).
Though open to the idea, Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Umno has a principle where the party will contest any seat that it had won even if its representative later defected to another party.
In the 2020 Sabah elections, several seats originally allotted for Umno-Barisan were manipulated at the last minute, resulting in four seats being contested by ex-Umno members who had jumped to another party, said Ahmad Zahid, who is also Umno president.
He said Barisan then had 14 state assemblymen while GRS had 11 but due to defections after the election, GRS and Pakatan formed the state government with 42 assemblymen.
“The seats won by Barisan should rightfully belong to us, as they (the former Umno leaders) defected,” he added.
“The door is neither completely closed nor fully opened, allowing for cooperation between central and state-level parties to prevent the idea of ‘Sabah for Sabahans’, as we are part of Malaysia.”
He said “asobiah” should not be encouraged, which is an Arabic word referring to narrow tribalism or self-serving communal interests.
“The country has an inclusive approach to foster collaboration among political parties so that the states can work alongside Putrajaya to advance their development,” he said.
Barisan is now carefully examining the announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that discussions were ongoing on a possible collaboration between Pakatan and GRS.
During his May 11 visit to Sabah, Anwar had met Sabah Chief Minister and GRS chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, and talked about the possibility that GRS could still work with Sabah Barisan and Sabah Pakatan.
This was after Barisan and Pakatan had announced on May 9 that they had formed a pact to contest the Sabah polls together.
GRS consists of eight parties, including Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah, Parti Bersatu Sabah, Sabah Progressive Party, Sabah Star, United Sabah National Organisation, Parti Cinta Sabah, Liberal Democratic Party and Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah.
Sabah Pakatan has four parties – United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation, PKR, DAP and Amanah, while Sabah Barisan includes Umno, MCA, MIC and PBRS.
