KOTA KINABALU: All division leaders of Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) have been ordered to ensure the victory of whoever was picked to be candidates for Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and its coalition partner Pakatan Harapan.
Gagasan Rakyat president Datuk Hajiji Noor, who is GRS chairman, said that there must be good cooperation amongst all its leaders including those at divisional level to ensure the incumbent ruling coalition is returned to lead the state government.
"We must win this election. I know we are facing great pressure, especially me, in choosing a candidate.
"But, we must compromise and sacrifice. Whatever the party's decision, we must uphold and respect it, we must cooperate because the important thing is that we must win and become the government," he said when addressing a special meeting for Gagasan Rakyat division chiefs here.
Hajiji, who is caretaker Chief Minister, dubbed the 17th state election as very critical for GRS as the opposition was mounting a campaign of false propaganda to bring down the GRS-Pakatan state government.
"We are facing the most critical election. I ask all divisional leaders at all levels to help the candidate chosen by the party (and also) help the candidate chosen by our friend, Pakatan," he stressed.
Hajiji reiterated his confidence in the ability of GRS and its Pakatan partners to be given a mandate again in the 17th general election.
He said the GRS election machinery was ready and would be launched in mid-October.
He was confident that GRS-Pakatan would be successful in the election if all members worked as one united force.
Hajiji said that the opposition was painting a negative picture of the GRS-Pakatan government and trying to belittle the achievements of the state government over the last five years.
"The opposition is throwing all kinds of accusations at us, especially me who is accused day and night of saying that this government has failed.
"But what is failure, if we can govern the state well, and even introduce a clear direction to develop Sabah.
"We failed when the state's revenue was only RM4bil, but now it has increased to RM7bil and next year it is expected to be more than RM7bil.
"We failed when we successfully signed an agreement with PETRONAS so that we can benefit a lot in developing the oil and gas industry," he said, adding that more than 100 local Sabah companies were given opportunities by PETRONAS.
