KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 — At least 11 of the 17 Umno state assemblymen (Adun) rejected cooperation with Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) in an attempt to form a new Sabah state government.

Berita Harian quoting sources reported that the 11 assemblymen refused to support Warisan and held their support for Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor to continue leading the state government.

The Malay daily said the 11 Umno assemblymen who gave their support to Hajiji in person at his residence last night was Datuk Yakub Khan (Karambunai) who is also Sabah Umno Deputy Chairman; Datuk Andi Muhamad Suryady Bandy (Tanjung Batu); Datuk Mohd Hamsan Ag Supain (Sungai Sibuga); Datuk James Ratib (Sugut); Datuk Harun Durabi (Bengkoka); Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob (Sindumin) and Datuk Raimie Unggi.

The rest are Datuk Ir Shahelmey Yahya who is also the Minister of Community Development and Sabah People’s Welfare (Tanjung Keramat); Datuk Jasnih Daya (Pantai Dalit); Datuk Mohd Arsad Bistari (Tempasuk) and Datuk Suhaimi Nasir.

According to Berita Harian’s sources their refusal to cooperate with Warisan is said to be one of the reasons why Warisan President Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal’s press conference related to the formation of a new government scheduled for 4.30pm yesterday was called off.

Based on yesterday’s rumours, the press conference was expected to be attended by Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, after he held a meeting with all party state leaders at the Sabah Umno Building.

The announcement by seven Sabah Pakatan Harapan (PH) assemblymen who stated that they did not give any statutory declaration (SD) to any party, is also believed to affect Warisan and Umno’s cooperation plans to topple Hajiji.

All seven of them had previously also expressed their support for Hajiji to continue to lead the state government until the current State Legislative Assembly (DUN) term ends.

At the moment, Warisan has 19 seats, while Umno-BN has 17 seats, making it 36 seats out of the 79 seats that are available now, including six seats for the Appointed Assemblyman.

That number is not enough without the support of other parties, as PH has seven state assembly seats.

Meanwhile, GRS currently has 29 seats, 15 of which are former members of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), seven from Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), six from Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) and one from Parti Maju Sabah (SAPP).

In addition, GRS is also supported by an independent assemblyman and a Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah (PHRS) assemblyman.

With the support of seven PH assemblymen, GRS has the strength of 38 seats or 49 seats if including the support of the 11 Umno assemblymen.

According to the sources, Bung Moktar together with Sabah BN Election Machinery Director, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak are said to be planning to change the state government with the cooperation of Warisan due to dissatisfaction with Hajiji’s leadership in several matters.

Following that, the two of them are said to have urged all Umno assemblymen to support the plan and attempted to change the government with Mohd Shafie yesterday, but failed when some assemblymen did not agree.

When greeted by the media after leaving the Sabah Umno Building yesterday afternoon, Bung Moktar however explained that nothing was discussed at the meeting, other than saying that it was only a meeting to discuss the future of the party.