KOTA KINABALU: Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) will take firm action against any member of its component parties who run as independent candidates in the 17th Sabah elections, says coalition chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
Hajiji, who also leads Gagasan Rakyat, confirmed that he had received reports of several party members submitting their nomination papers to contest independently.
He said such actions risk creating conflicts with official Gagasan Rakyat or other GRS candidates.
“For friendly contests between parties, we can accept that. But for Gagasan Rakyat and GRS members who contest as independents, we will take action to expel them from the party,” he told reporters after filing his nomination papers for the Sulaman seat in Tuaran.
“This cannot be negotiated,” said Hajiji, who is defending the seat he first won in 1990.
Hajiji, who secured a majority of 3,099 votes in the previous state election, is now in a five-cornered fight for the seat.
Two Gagasan Rakyat division chiefs, Datuk Fairuz Renddan (Pintasan) and Datuk Dr Roland Chia (Inanam), have gone ahead to contest as independents after the seats they sought were allocated to other GRS components or to Pakatan Harapan.
Staunch support: Hajiji (in purple) marching with party supporters to the nomination centre in Tuaran. — ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE / The Star
Fairuz, the incumbent Pintasan assemblyman, was dropped in favour of Usno president Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia. Fairuz defeated Pandikar by just 84 votes in the last state election and is now in an 11-cornered fight with him.
Fairuz, 41, said he had resigned from Gagasan Rakyat and therefore was not breaching party rules by contesting as an independent.
“I’m doing this because the struggles and the voice of the young must continue. No one should dim the lights of the young,” he said.
Dr Chia also said he has left the party and is contesting the Inanam seat as an independent, going up against incumbent Datuk Peto Galim of Pakatan in a 13-cornered battle.
