KOTA KINABALU: Pakatan Harapan is insisting that two of its key unity government partners — Barisan Nasional and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) — do not contest against any of its candidates.
The coalition is striking separate electoral pacts with Barisan and GRS and is seeking exclusive rights to the agreed seats allocated to Pakatan under their separate negotiations with both parties.
Both Sabah Barisan and GRS, who partnered to win the state government in the 2020 snap election, have fallen out since January 2023 at the state level.
However, both parties became part of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Unity government when he took office in November 2022 after the general election.
“Our principle is clear. Once a seat is agreed for Pakatan, Barisan should not contest, and GRS should not contest. The seats must be exclusive to Pakatan,” said Sabah PKR chief Datuk Mustapha Sakmud.
He said Pakatan candidates will work together with GRS and Barisan in the seats allocated to Pakatan under the seat-sharing formula worked out separately.
Mustapha added that Pakatan and Barisan have more or less reached a broad agreement on a seat-sharing formula.
It is understood that four-party Sabah Barisan is eyeing 40 to 44 of the 73 state seats, leaving the remaining seats for the four-party Pakatan, though they are still trying to agree on a few overlapping seats.
Mustapha confirmed that one seat, Gum Gum, will be contested by Barisan, but they have yet to agree on Sindumin, a seat wanted by Umno but which PKR is widely expected to contest with a former chief minister's son.
He said negotiations between GRS and Pakatan are ongoing, as GRS has offered 18 seats to Pakatan, who want 23 in the coming election.
According to Mustapha, Sabah PKR is looking to contest at least 13 seats while accommodating their partners Upko, DAP and Amanah.
“GRS proposed 18 seats. We said that is not enough. We initially asked for 23. Within PKR itself, we want at least 13 seats,” Mustapha added.
On social media calls for more federal funds to help Sabah's flood victims and comparisons between the RM10mil relief allocation for the state and the RM100mil for Palestine, Mustapha said the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is of a different scale.
He said that the RM10mil announced by Anwar in Doha was an initial allocation from the National Disaster Management Agency and that further funds would follow once federal and state agencies completed technical assessments.
“On Friday (Sept 19), I accompanied the Prime Minister to the affected areas. He instructed the Public Works Department to immediately assess the needs and assured that the tender process would be exempt from the usual procedures.
This is not a normal issue (Gaza issue). This is genocide. Children are being killed every day. So of course the country must be seen to play its role, just as Singapore and Japan have done.
But that does not mean Sabah’s needs are ignored. The Prime Minister has made it clear Sabah’s requirements will be taken care of,” he added.
Mustapha also criticised opposition Warisan as "insensitive" for carrying out political programmes that even mocked Anwar Ibrahim and Wan Azizah.
“That is what we regret, not the aid. But do not go overboard in politics until respect is lost,” he added.
