KOTA KINABALU, Jan 7 — Sabah Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) seven state assemblymen have reiterated their support for embattled Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, paving a possible path for him to hold on to his post even without the support of the majority of Sabah Umno representatives.

In a joint statement, the seven PH reps repeated that they were against the current attempt to topple the government and cause the current hung assembly.

"At the same time, we do not agree for the state assembly to be dissolved if this crisis continues and the status of the state assembly remains hung for the time (Hung State Assembly).

"We would like to state that we continue to support the current Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

"This is in line with our principle of ensuring political stability in Sabah and not engaging in measures like the Sheraton Move,” they said.

The statement represented the stance of Sabah PH and was decided before the PH presidential council meeting this afternoon, said a DAP leader.

The reps said that they hope that a Sabah unity government can be formed as is the practice at the federal level.

"We feel very sorry to see Sabah once again facing a political crisis that should not have happened.

Our primary focus should be to ensure that the goal of our struggle is to help the people and develop the economy and to work together to ensure that the MA63 struggle is realised,” they said.

"We pray that the political turmoil will end in the near future and the well-being of the people of Sabah will continue to be defended with this support.”

GRS, with 29 seats, will be closer to getting a simple majority of 40 seats with PH’s seven. The 36 seats are expected to be padded up with some five dissenters from Umno, one from PAS, and one or two more assemblymen.

Sabah Umno, with some 12 remaining state assemblymen, has pulled its support for GRS. The party might not have the numbers to form a new state government even if they were to join forces with Parti Warisan, Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Malaysia and the independent Segama assemblyman, Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi.