KOTA KINABALU, Sept 4 — Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) will be formalising its Sabah leadership during its annual national congress that is scheduled to be held on Oct 1, this year.

The party president-designate Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin told a press conference today that for now, the PBM state leadership is still under a protem committee.

"At the moment, the party leadership at the state-level is still under a protem committee because we will be having our annual national congress on Oct 1, where we are going to restructure, reappoint, and formalise (the) official line-up that will be announced then.

"At the moment, Lahad Datu MP Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi is still (the) protem (state chief) and is under the unofficial list,” she said when asked to comment on PBM president cum Julau MP Datuk Larry Sng’s announcement two weeks ago that Mohamaddin has been appointed as the party’s Sabah liaison chief.

Sng, during the press conference two weeks ago, said that PBM’s political bureau had agreed to appoint Mohamaddin, who officially joined the party last month as Sabah PBM liaison chief.

"With Mohamaddin joining PBM, we can now form a new leadership structure for Sabah and register PBM Sabah with RoS,” he was quoted as saying then.

Meanwhile, when asked on PBM’s relationship with Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) Sabah, Zuraida said although PBM may be small at this point in time but in terms of strength, it is as good as some of the other parties.

"No matter what, we will have to move into a coalition, we are still looking into that (and) we are not worried. We have the strength and we have the people, we can move into any direction, anytime. Now we are concentrating on strengthening our party, penetrating into areas and processing our membership,” she said.

She also reiterated Sng’s remarks about PBM contesting only in incumbent constituencies in the coming 15th General Election (GE15).

"For us, our position this time is to concentrate on the incumbent seats only, the rest we will have to work hard and strengthen our position in the areas where we are strong. This is preparation for 16th general election,” she said.

To a question on whether PBM will be joining other coalitions or going solo in GE15 if its application to join BN is not approved, Zuraida said the party is flexible in the matter.

"We are a party that is strong at the grassroots level so we are flexible to move whichever direction. We will handle the matter when the time comes,” she said adding that at this point in time, PBM is still focused on joining BN.

"We are leaving it open because we believe in supporting the government of the day. Our work here is to make the government better and the country better so it doesn’t matter where we are actually as long as we can contribute to the development of the country to the betterment of the country,” she stressed.

On the issue of PBM contesting in Sarawak in GE15, Zuraida said they will cross the bridge when they get to it.

Earlier during the press conference Zuraida said Sabah PBM now has six registered divisions namely Kudat, Papar, Keningau, Tenom, Batu Sapi and Semporna.

Another six, namely Kota Marudu, Sepanggar, Pensiangan, Beluran, Sandakan and Lahad Datu are expected to be receiving their approval from Registrar of Societies (RoS) soon, she added.

Noting that PBM currently has about 3,000 members in Sabah, Zuraida said the application for the remaining 14 divisions is still in the process.

Zuraida also announced the entry of Malaysian Palm Oil Certification Council chief executive officer Datuk Daud Amatzin and businessman Jupperi Lenson into PBM Sabah. — Borneo Post