KOTA KINABALU, Aug 3 — State assemblyman Kenny Chua has broken his silence on his defection to support the opposition’s bid to topple the Sabah government, saying he did it out of his loyalty to his former party PKR and its president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

In a statement today, Chua, a former assistant finance minister said he could not see himself being part of an administration that supports former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"It would go against my principle to be part of a state government that was led by Warisan because this party had openly declared its support for Dr Mahathir. It was even reported that it was ready to amend its constitution to welcome him into the party.

"I’ve repeatedly said that as a PKR leader in Sabah, it was only right for me to stay loyal to my party president and threw my undivided support for him as the country’s next prime minister as what all Malaysians and Sabahans had been promised during the last general election,” he said.

Chua, who was a state PKR vice-chairman said that he commiserated with the negative sentiments the majority of Sabahans harboured towards Dr Mahathir for changing the political landscape since the 1980s.

Chua was one the 13 elected and nominated assemblyman who decided to switch sides and rally behind former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman in his bid to topple the Warisan-led state government.

The attempt, however, was foiled after Warisan, led by Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, sought for the dissolution of the state legislative assembly to pave way for a snap state election.

Chua, who was sacked by his party for switching sides, denied allegations that he had been offered huge sums of money to defect.

"The relevant authorities can investigate me. They can check my bank accounts if they suspect that I had been offered millions of cash. But perhaps in all fairness, they should also call for investigation on those elected representatives who switched sides to help Warisan form the state government in 2018,” he claimed. 

Chua said that of the 13 who defected, he had the most to lose.

"I’ve been criticised for switching sides. But come to think about it, why would I ever want to jeopardise my position in the government if it had not been for things happening in government and local politics which I didn’t think were right?”

"And the mother of all problems is the [undocumented migrant] and statelessness issue which I’ve repeatedly highlighted in the media even before I was an elected representative,” he said, adding that he would reveal more eventually.

Chua also said that the state government lacks the funds to develop the state and that it was critical to have federal funds.

He also attributed his crossover to Warisan’s treatment towards its partners, PKR, Upko and DAP.

Chua said that he would like the chance to prove his intentions to the people if given the chance for re-election.

Last week, Shafie sought for a dissolution of the State Assembly following the defection of the 13 assemblymen, which gave Musa a simple majority in the 65 member House.

The Election Commission has yet to name a date for the state polls.