KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today asserted that the party is still going strong in Sabah despite last week’s mass exodus of lawmakers led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

He announced Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee as the new Sabah Bersatu and state Perikatan Nasional (PN) chief.

"He is responsible for managing Sabah Bersatu and Sabah PN until the restructuring of both are decided by the Bersatu and PN supreme councils,” the former prime minister said in a statement on his Facebook page.

Muhyiddin, who also heads PN, expressed his disappointment with the Sabah lawmakers who had been elected on the party and coalition’s ticket.

"I am disappointed with the attitude of the former Sabah Bersatu state leadership who did not show loyalty to the party that had placed them in a high position after the last Sabah state election.

"Moreover, their victory in the last state election was based on the PN logo. I believe that Bersatu members in the state of Sabah who are loyal to the party's struggle will continue to remain in Bersatu which is a component party of Perikatan Nasional at the federal level,” he said.

"About the position of the four Bersatu MPs who contested using the GRS logo in GE15, it will be determined based on the anti-party hopping law under Article 49A of the Federal Constitution,” he added.

The amendment to the Federal Constitution, gazetted in October, prohibits MPs who were elected on a party's ticket from switching to another mid-term to prevent the destabilisation of the federal government.

However, Sabah has yet to pass a similar preventive law at the state level.

GRS is the abbreviation for Gabungan Rakyat Sabah, the state ruling coalition comprising 12 component parties that was officially registered in March.

Six MPs and 15 assemblymen were part of Sabah Bersatu before exiting from the party last week.

Yesterday, GRS secretary-general Datuk Masidi Manjun cited the rise of "political Islam” as their reason for leaving Bersatu and PN.

He said that the increasing racial and religious rhetoric of some peninsula parties, especially in the run-up to the November 19 general election, was inconsistent with the values of a multiracial and multireligious Sabah and Sarawak.

Several news outlets have reported that the Sabah MPs and assemblymen who exited Bersatu will be joining a state party that had been dormant all this time, citing a single unnamed source.

Masidi declined to confirm or deny the rumour when contacted by Malay Mail today, only saying an announcement will be made when the time is right.